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|ND this one life, 
exempt from 
public haunt, 

Finds tongue in trees, 
books in the running 
brooks, 

Sermons in stones, and 
good in everything. 


—Shakespeare. 


3 




4 






























RAINBOW 

BOY 


by HEWES LANCASTER, 

Cduthor of Marie -fc^rcadu 
IheWindin the garden 

<JP 


illustrated by 
'TfaroldcfbbottcMason 

c%nd 

Tfaidee Zack Walsh 



ALBERT WHITMAN 6 CO. 
Chicago, U.S.A. 







Copyright 1926 

ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 
Chicago, U. S. A. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

For permission to reprint the following stories in this 
book of Rainbow Boy —formerly published under the 
title “Heart-of-a-Poet,” acknowledgment is due 

The Beacon, Boston, Mass. 

The Picayune, New Orleans, La. 

Wee Wisdom. 


Other 

WORLD WIDE Titles 


Heidi 
Pinocchio 
Aesops Fables 
Wonderful Tree 


Favorite Bible Stories 
Best Tales for Children 
Anderson’s Fairy Tales 
Stories from an Indian Cave 


East O’ the Sun and West O’ the Moon 


A Just Right Book 


Made in the U. S. A. 


© Cl A 901900 


6 





MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD 

My heart leaps up when I behold 
A rainbow in the sky; 

So was it when my life began; 

So it is now I am a man; 

So be it when I shall grow old, 

Or let me die! 

The child is father of the man; 

And I could wish my days to be 
Bound each to each by natural piety. 

William Wordsworth. 


7 









CONTENTS 


Page 

The Little Stunted Tree. 1 7 

Something-T o-Do .,. 29 

Soft Answer . ..... 37 

Pine Knot. 49 

Purple Night. 59 

Chunk of Charcoal . 70 


8 














CONTENTS—Continued 


Little Song . 

Lonely Place . 

Pleasant Word 

Old Stick . 

Broken Word 
Pretty Pebble 
Water Hyacinth 
Hurrying Wind 

Good Wish . 

Candle Light 
Wayside Weed 

Dark Place . 

Beautiful Bubbles 
Sunny Smile . 



Page 
82 
91 
108 
122 
133 
144 
162 
1 77 
189 
200 
212 
224 
238 
246 


9 
















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Rainbow Boy and Beautiful Bubbles Frontispiece 

“A little goat came bleating into the woods’’. 1 6 

“Won’t you let me have some of your nice, juicy 

branches to eat?’’...... 1 7 

“Stood beside me and ate and ate and ate, till I 

didn’t have a single leaf left’’. 21 

“Many months ago my name was So-Tired’’. 33 

Beautiful white birds were swooping over the 

waves . 37 

“With nobody but myself to snarl at”. 43 

“Come back and play with us, won’t you?” he 

coaxed . 47 

Iron tongs clamped down on Pine Knot.. 49 

Rainbow Boy sat gazing in delight. 57 

“Who? Who? Who?” . 61 

“Dawn, my bright eyed boy”. 67 

“One day some men came with saws and axes”. 73 

“How odd, you are the blackest fellow I ever 

saw,” he said . 79 

When he tried to jump back he slipped and fell... 83 

A boy’s eyes look as brave as a man’s. 89 

And everything was so hushed. 93 

“He said, ‘Yes, that is true, too’.”. 97 

“I could wither my grass so no beast would come 

to browse on it”... 1 00 

“The Moon said nothing more, just smiled her 
wan, white smile and covered her face with 

a cloud” .. 1 03 

One day he was going along a dismal street. 1 09 

“I was sitting there watching the light coming 

nearer” ...... | | 3 


10 























LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS—Cont’d 

Page 

“It is fine to meet a Pleasant Word”. 120 

Not so dead as you seem to think”... 1 23 

Calling Earth, Air and Water to come quickly” 127 

“I am going to see who it is”..,. 133 

One day when he was coming from the brook, 

Rainbow Boy picked up a pebble in the path... 1 47 

“One day a little child came to wade”. 1 55 

The first thing I remember I was lying in the 

brook”. 159 

Water Hyacinth growing in the bayou. 1 61 

“A bird flew down to drink near by”.. 166 

“Make me the most beautiful thing in the swamp” 1 69 
Hurrying Wind caught up the seeds and scattered 

them over the field. 1 79 

He swept away the air that had grown warm and 

stale ..... 1 83 

“Hurrah for you, Mr. Wind,” the boy cheered 1 85 
“They cut me into bits and put me in a pot over 

a fire” . 203 

“Thousands and thousands of candle lights have 

gone out” ... 2 1 1 

“Of course I had wanted to grow in a garden”. 2 1 7 

“My day’s work carries me all over the world”.2 1 9 

“They like to play with him”.~. 228 

“And the bats, too” .-. 231 

“How I love little children”. 235 

“Sooner or later all idleness must make an end” 243 

A little girl came dancing along. 247 

“Won’t you tell me what your name is?”. 249 

“Make everybody feel a whole lot better . 253 


11 






















FOREWORD 

Rainbow Boy was a lonesome 
little boy. He had no sister or 
brother in his house—nobody with 
whom he could play. The only 
time he ever felt really happy was 
when his mother told him stories 
at bed-time. He used to say to 
himself: 

“I wish Mother was not so busy 
all day. If she could tell me plenty 
of stories I wouldn’t mind having 
nobody to play with.” 

But one day while he was saying 
that, a happy thought came to him. 
He jumped up and exclaimed: 

“I know what I can do. I can 
go for a walk each day, and I 
can ask everything I meet to tell 
me its story. I’ll ask the sticks 


12 


and the stones and the trees. 
Yes, I’ll ask everything I meet to 
tell me a story about itself—how 
it happened to be like it is. Oh, 
I think this is going to be great 
fun. I’ll start right away.” 

Just as he was hurrying out the 
gate Rainbow Boy ran into two 
happy looking lads who were 
laughing and talking together: 

“Hello,” said the tall one. 
“Where are you going in such a 
hurry?” 

“I am going for a walk,” said 
Rainbow Boy. “I want to ask all 
the things I meet to tell me a story. 
Do you think they will do it?” 

“Oh yes indeed. They will be 
glad to do it,” said the short one. 
“All things like to tell their stories; 


13 


you have only to look and listen. 

“My friend and I would like to 
tell you our stories but we haven’t 
any of our own. We enter into 
everybody else’s story though. 
You are going to hear a great deal 
about us, so I may as well tell you 
who we are. My comrade is Spirit 
of Change. When anything wants 
to be better than it is—it asks him 
to come and help it change.” 

“I am glad to meet Spirit of 
Change,” Rainbow Boy said. 
“And who are you?” 

“I am Light. I’ll run a race with 
you if you want me to.” 

“Don’t you do it,” said Spirit of 
Change. “Don’t you do it. There 
isn’t a boy in the world who can 
run as fast as Light and he knows 


14 


it. That is why he is always daring 
somebody to race with him.” 

Light laughed merrily. It was 
such a happy little laugh that Rain¬ 
bow laughed too. Then Spirit of 
Change said ‘‘We must be on our 
way. We have many things to do 
this day. Goodbye Rainbow Boy, 
we’re glad we met you.” 

‘‘Goodbye,” said Rainbow Boy. 
“I hope we’ll meet again some day.” 
And down the road he hurried 
wondering what would be the first 
story he would hear. 

Dear reader, if you will follow 
Rainbow Boy, you, too, shall hear 
many a story that will fill your 
heart with delight. 

Hewes Lancaster. 


15 




16 























































RAINBOW BOY 



‘Won’t you let me have some of your nice 
juicy branches to eat?** 


THE LITTLE STUNTED TREE 
As Rainbow Boy was going 
through the woods he met a little 
stunted tree. It was holding up its 
head cheerfully, but it looked as if 
it had been having a lot of ill for¬ 
tune. Right away Rainbow Boy 
wanted to know all about it. 


17 



18 


RAINBOW BOY 


“O Little Stunted Tree,” he said, 
“won’t you please tell me your 
story?” 

“Of course I will if you wish to 
hear it,” Little Stunted Tree an¬ 
swered politely, “but it isn’t much 
of a story.” 

“That’s all right,” Rainbow Boy 
said; “go ahead and tell me. I want 
to hear.” 

So Little Stunted Tree began: 

“When I first came up out of the 
ground I was very slim and 
straight, and I said: ‘I will grow 
and grow and become a great big 
tree. Then all the little birds can 
come and nest in my strong 
branches and all the cattle can lie 



THE LITTLE STUNTED TREE 


19 


down in my pleasant shade.’ 

“I hunted all day and all night for 
food and put out new leaves so 
fast that pretty soon I had one of 
the greenest, tenderest tops in all 
the woods. 

“But one day, while I was laugh¬ 
ing and thinking about the big tree 
I was going to be, a little goat came 
bleating into the woods. It had be¬ 
come lost from its mother and it 
was nearly starved because all the 
big trees were out of its reach and 
it could get nothing to eat. 

“When the little animal came to 
me it found I was just the right size 
to feed it, and it said, ‘O Little 
Tree, won’t you let me have some 




20 RAINBOW BOY 

--- 


of your nice green leaves to eat so 
that I may keep on living till my 
mother comes to find me?’ 

“Of course I said ‘Yes.’ I was 
glad to help a poor little hungry 
thing like that. It stood beside me 
and ate and ate till I did not have a 
single leaf left. When it lay down 
in the sun, all warm and happy to 
wait for its mother, I could not feel 
bad about my leaves being gone, 
I just said: ‘I must get to work and 
grow some more leaves.’ 

“And 1 did grow some more 
leaves. They were not so green as 
the ones the little goat had eaten, 
because biting the top off made 
my stem divide into branches, and 





21 




















THE LITTLE STUNTED TREE 


23 

-«+ 


you know. Rainbow Boy, that it 
takes a great deal more food to 
feed a bunch of branches than it 
does to feed a single straight stem. 
But the sun and rain helped me all 
they could, and pretty soon I had 
a strong trunk even if my top was 
rather bushy. 

“The big tree began to nod and 
say to me ‘You are coming on 
nicely.’ But one day, just as a big 
oak was saying, ‘You are getting to 
be quite a tree,’ a lame cow came 
limping along. 

“She was so poor you could see 
her bones sticking up under her 
skin, but she dragged herself to me 
and said, ‘O Little Tree, won’t you 




24 


RAINBOW BOY 


let me have some of your nice juicy 
branches to eat and make me 
strong enough to get home to the 
farmer who will feed me?’ 

“The big oak called out to me 
and said: ‘Don’t let her do it. If she 
bites off your top you will never 
grow tall.’ But the poor cow was 
so hungry and weak she could 
hardly stand. 

“I could not let her lie down and 
die just because I wanted to grow 
tall, so I said, ‘Eat all you want to, 
poor cow.’ 

“She ate and ate till all my 
branches were gone. But it made 
me feel good to see her walk away 



+■ 


THE LITTLE STUNTED TREE 


25 


as if she felt strong enough to go 
home, and I said to myself, ‘I must 
just get busy and grow more 
branches.’ 

“I felt so happy that I worked 
harder than I had ever done before 
and found so much more food that 
my sap rose faster and faster un¬ 
til my bitten-off trunk threw up a 
strong, straight shoot. It was just 
the prettiest thing you ever saw, 
Rainbow Boy, round, green, and 
bursting with life. It would have 
made you feel glad to see the way 
it grew and swayed in the wind. 
Up and up it went. Nothing could 
reach it to bite it. I was going to be 
a great tree. 




26 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Then a boy I loved came whis¬ 
tling into the woods. I had often 
seen him there, breaking up the 
fallen branches and carrying them 
home to make a fire for his mother. 

“No matter how heavy the load 
was, he always went away with 
it, whistling. He was such a fine, 
merry boy, with freckles on his 
face and warts on his hands. It 
always made me feel good just to 
see him come into the woods. 

“That day he came right to me 
and took hold of my strong, 
straight shoot and began to whip 
it in the air. ‘Oh Little Tree,’ he 
said, ‘this would make the finest 
fishing-pole any boy ever had. 



THE LITTLE STUNTED TREE 


27 


Won’t you let me have it?’ 

“I let him have my beautiful 
shoot, Rainbow boy; I had to let 
him have it, because, you see, I 
loved him. I thought at first that 
maybe I could grow another shoot, 
and I tried and tried, but I know 
now that I can never be a big tree; 
I can never be of any use in the 
world; I can never give shade or 
shelter to any living things.” 

Rainbow Boy came close and 
laid his hand gently on the brave 
little stunted head. 

“No,” he said, “you will never 
be able to give very much shade 
or shelter, but there are greater 
gifts than these to be given to all 




28 


RAINBOW BOY 


living things, and even the littlest 
ones can give these great gifts.” 

The Little Stunted Tree asked 
eagerly, 

“Could I give these gifts, Rain¬ 
bow Boy?” 

“Why, yes,” Rainbow Boy said. 
“The greatest of all gifts are Love 
and Sympathy, and you have been 
giving these gifts all your life. No 
matter how hungry people may be 
or how happy they may be, it al¬ 
ways helps them to receive the 
Great Gifts. 

“You have given Love and Sym¬ 
pathy to all living things, O Little 
Stunted Tree, and you have be¬ 
come the noblest tree in the 
Forest.” 



SOMETHING-TO-DO. 

Rainbow Boy woke up one 
morning in a strange mood. He 
was restless and tired. 

“I don’t feel like going out in 
search of a story this morning,” he 
said to himself. ‘‘I feel so tired I’m 
almost useless. I do wish I had 
someone to play with.” 

He went out on the back porch 
and sat down on the steps. He 
rested his head on his hands and 
just looked around and around. 
Presently his mother opened the 
back door and called to him: 


29 


30 


RAINBOW BOY 



‘He rested his head on his hands ” 


“Here’s Something-To-Do. He 
wants to see you.” 

A happy-looking lad came bust¬ 
ling down the steps. 

“Hello,” said Rainbow Boy, 
cheering up, immediately, “I am 
glad to see you.” 









SOMETHING-TO-DO 


31 


“I thought you would be,” said 
the bustling lad. ‘‘People who are 
feeling restless and out of sorts 
generally are glad to see me. But 
I must get to work now.” 

‘‘What are you going to do?” 
asked Rainbow Boy. 

“Do? Why, I am going to pick 
up all the sticks and rubbish in this 
back yard and make it look neat 
and nice.” 

“If I help you all I can,” Rainbow 
Boy asked, “will you tell me your 
story?” 

“Indeed I will,” said Something- 
To-Do, “but it isn’t much of a story. 
Many, many months ago my name 



32 


RAINBOW BOY 


was So-Tired and I didn’t have a 
good time at all. I just sat around 
wishing I had some place to go to 
and feeling as if I was most dead. 
One day Spirit-of-Change came 
along and asked me if I liked being 
So-Tired. 

“I told him of course I didn’t like 
it but that I couldn’t change my 
name. He laughed—you know 
how Spirit-of-Change laughs, don’t 
you? Well, he laughed and 
laughed. 

The idea,’ he said, ’of saying 
you cannot change your name. 
Don’t you know that I can change 
the name of anything that has 
earth, air and water in it? All you 





“Many, many months ago my name was So-Tired” 






33 











SOMETHING-TO-DO 


35 


have to do is to ask me to kiss you 
and give you a new name. Now 
what name would you like to 
have?’ 

“I told him I thought almost any 
other name would be better than 
So-Tired and he said he thought 
so too. 

“Then he kissed me and said: 

‘Now you are changed and your 
new name is Something-To-Do.’ 

“It was strange. Just as soon as 
he said that I ran to pick up some 
paper that was blowing about a 
lawn. The good Spirit called after 
me and said: 

“ ‘That’s it! And remember 
whenever you hear anyone saying 




36 


RAINBOW BOY 


he’s so tired he’s almost dead, it’s 
your task to help him out.’ ” Rain¬ 
bow Boy laughed: 

“So that’s why you came to me! 
I’m so glad you did! I feel a great 
deal better now.” 

‘Yes,’ said Something - To - Do, 
‘and the yard looks much better 
too. That’s the jolly part about my 
task. I am all the time making peo¬ 
ple feel better and making places 
look nicer. 

‘Well, I must go now. But don’t 
forget, Rainbow Boy, the next 
time you are feeling restless or so 
tired you are most useless, make 
certain to call upon your best 
friend Something-to-Do.’ ” 




*Beautiful white birds were swooping over the waves.** 


SOFT ANSWER 

Rainbow Boy had been invited 
to a Beach Party and for a while 
he could see nothing but the great 
gray Gulf of Mexico rolling its 
waters into the broad white beach. 

Beautiful white birds were 
swoopng down over the waves. 
Sunset clouds were floating about 


37 



38 


RAINBOW BOY 


and casting their bright colors upon 
the birds and upon the waters. 

“How nice this is,” thought he, 
“I would like to sit here for the rest 
of my life and just look and look.” 

But there were plenty of people 
at the Beach Party so, of course, 
Rainbow Boy wished to be polite 
and play with the other guests. 

As he was about to join a group 
of boys who were building a sand 
fort one of the boys jumped up 
and shouted: 

“You hateful thing! You kicked 
my castle down. You did! You 
kicked it as hard as you could! I 
saw you when you did it! You 
shall not play with us any more!” 



SOFT ANSWER 


39 


“That’s all right,” a pleasant 
voice answered, “I will not play 
with you any more if you don’t 
want me to. I know I kicked your 
castle. My foot slipped. I am 
sorry.” 

“Hello,” Rainbow Boy said to 
himself, “that’s Soft Answer. No¬ 
body would ever think of calling 
him a coward but he always man¬ 
ages to keep out of trouble. I won¬ 
der how he does it. I’m going to 
ask him right now.” 

Rainbow Boy ran after Soft 
Answer and as soon as he caught 
up with him he said: 

“Please, Soft Answer, I wish you 
would tell me how you manage to 



40 


RAINBOW BOY 


keep out of fights without the fel¬ 
lows thinking you are a coward or 
a sissy.” 

“Oh, it’s easy enough for a Soft 
Answer to keep out of trouble,” 
Soft Answer said. “You remem¬ 
ber what the Bible says. But I 
really had a hard time of it before 
I grew to be a Soft Answer. 

“Did you really?” said Rainbow 
Boy, “Weren’t you always a Soft 
Answer?” 

“Oh-h-h no,” said Soft Answer. 
“Very few Soft Answers are born, 
you know. They nearly always 
have to be made.” 

Is that so? I wish you would tell 
me how they are made.” 



SOFT ANSWER 


41 

-* 


“I can remember how I was 
made. I am sorry and ashamed to 
tell it but in the beginning I was a 
Snarling Reply, an ugly fellow al¬ 
ways snapping at somebody and 
forever getting into fights. I sup¬ 
pose you know what a Snarling 
Reply is?” 

‘‘I think I do! And I am very 
glad you are not one any more. 
I’d as soon be cut across the face 
with a whip as to meet with a 
Snarling Reply. It makes me so 
angry.” 

‘‘Yes. When I was a Snarling 
Reply I made everybody cross. 
The angrier people became the 
more I snarled. Things went on 




42 


RAINBOW BOY 


that way until nobody would have 
anything to do with me. I was get¬ 
ting very lonesome with nobody 
but myself to snarl at when along 
came Spirit-of-Change and looked 
me over. 

“ ‘Wouldn’t you like to be some¬ 
thing better than what you are?’ 
he asked. ‘There cannot be much 
fun in being a cross-grained fellow 
who is forever getting into fights. 
Wouldn’t you like to be something 
better than a snarling reply.’ 

“I said: 

“ ‘Yes, Honest to goodness. I’d 
like to be somebody who never 
made people mad.’ 






u 


With nobody but myself to snarl at .* 9 


43 





















SOFT ANSWER 


45 


“ ‘Oh, all right then,’ said Spirit- 
of-Change. ‘I know just whom you 
want to be. The Bible says a Soft 
Answer turns away wrath. If you 
have your name changed to Soft 
Answer people simply can’t be¬ 
come angry with you any more.’ 

“ ‘How can I have my name 
changed to Soft Answer?’ I asked. 

“ ‘First of all,’ said the Spirit, ‘you 
must take your snarl out into the 
back yard, dig a deep hole, and 
bury it. You cannot be a Soft An¬ 
swer till you get well rid of your 
snarl. After you get rid of that I 
can kiss you and before you know 
it you will be a Soft Answer.’ ” 

“I see,” said Rainbow Boy, “and 

99 

so — 




46 


RAINBOW BOY 


Before he could finish the boy 
who had shouted so rudely came 
running after Soft Answer and 
took him by the hand: 

“Come on back and play with us, 
won’t you,” he coaxed. “I know 
you didn’t mean to kick my castle 
over. Please come on and help us 
build another fort. It isn’t any fun 
playing without you. Won’t you 
come?” 

“Glad to,” said Soft Answer, 
and he went back to help the boys 
build their fort. 

Rainbow Boy sat down on the 
sand to think about the story: 

“It must be very bad, just too 
bad to be a Snarling Reply and 





“Come back and play 


with us, wont you?” he coaxed. 




I » 








47 














































48 


RAINBOW BOY 


have all the folks not liking you. 
But oh, it must be jolly to be a Soft 
Answer and have all the fellows 
wanting you in their games.” 



f 






PINE KNOT 

One night as he sat before his 
fire, Rainbow Boy picked up Pine 
Knot and weighed him in his hand. 

“You are very heavy,” he said. 

“You would be heavy, too,” Pine 
Knot answered, “if you had a 
heart like lead in your breast.” 


49 








50 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Is your heart as heavy as lead?” 

“Indeed it is, and heavier. Do 
you know what is going to be done 
with me?” 

“What?” asked Rainbow Boy. 

“I am going to be burnt up.” 

“Burnt up! Why?” 

“Why?” exclaimed Pine Knot. 
“You ask me why? You who are 
going all over the world asking 
everything you meet to tell you its 
story? Why is the kind, gentle 
horse driven everyday while the 
vicious beast runs at large in the 
pasture? -Why is the good natured 
cow kept up and milked while the 
cross one is left to roam at will? 




PINE KNOT 


51 


Why are polite people always be¬ 
ing asked to do favors while rude 
people go their way untroubled by 
anything? Why and why? I am go¬ 
ing to be burnt up because I am 
rich and fat and will make a good 
fire. 

“Those worthless chips that 
haven’t enough pitch in them to 
make even a little blaze will be left 
unharmed in the woodbox until 
winter is gone. But I? I shall burn 
because I am good material. It is the 
way of the world. You yourself 
know how it is. It is a bitter way.” 

“No, no,” Rainbow Boy said. “It 
cannot be a bitter way. All is right 



52 


RAINBOW BOY 


with the world if we could only 
understand.” 

“Ha,” said Pine Knot, “let me 
tell you right now, I don’t like to be 
burnt up.” 

“Have you ever been burnt up?” 
asked Rainbow Boy. 

“No, of course not. I wouldn’t be 
here if I had ever been burnt.” 

Then how do you know 
whether you would like it or not, 
if you have never tried it?” 

“I’ve seen others burn.” 

“Yes, but you can’t tell much 
about things by looking on. You 
must do and feel them before you 
can know. I had a friend 


once, a 




PINE KNOT 53 

--+ 


boy, who said he didn’t like to 
swim and he would never go into 
the water until one day he fell in. 
Then he found it was so fine we 
could hardly get him to come out.’’ 

“Water and fire aren’t the same 
thing,’’ said Pine Knot. “I wouldn’t 
so much mind going into the water. 
I could just sink down to the bot¬ 
tom and stay there as comfortably 
as I am staying here. But to burn. 
That’s terrible!” 

“Perhaps it isn’t. I should think 
you would feel proud to think that 
there was matter enough in you to 
make a good fire, just as the gentle 
horse feels proud to think that men 




54 


RAINBOW BOY 


are not afraid to trust him; and as 
the good friend feels happy to 
think that people are not afraid to 
ask favors of him. 

“It is true, Pine Knot, work may 
seem horribly hard sometimes, but 
the only way for you to be happy 
is to do the work you were born 
to do.” 

“Even if it means being burnt 
up?” 

“Yes,” said Rainbow Boy, 
“even”—But just then a pair of 
iron tongs clamped down on Pine 
Knot, lifted him and laid him on 
the bed of coals. 

“Now!” said a voice from some¬ 
where. “Now we shall have a fine 






PINE KNOT 


55 


fire, for that pine knot knows how 
to burn.” 

‘‘Rainbow Boy made no answer 
to the voice, but sat watching Pine 
Knot as it lay upon the bed of 
coals. He saw that the sad fellow 
had begun to sweat, and he won¬ 
dered if he were very much afraid 
to burn. Then he saw a puff of 
white smoke, soft as a smile, burst 
over Pine Knot’s face, and he 
knew that the brave fellow had 
made up his mind to do the work 
he was brought into the world to 
do. 

‘‘Ah,” Rainbow Boy said to him¬ 
self, ‘‘after he once starts to work 



56 


RAINBOW BOY 


he will find out how deep and 
sweet it is. I know how it is with 
me about doing my studies. I am 
always afraid at first but after I 
start to work—ah, how fine it is. 
See there.” And Rainbow Boy sat 
gazing in delight, for Pine Knot 
had stopped sweating, and had 
flung off all fear and burst beauti¬ 
fully into a blaze. His light danced 
joyously over the room, making 
everything in it look bright and 
happy; his warmth glowed until 
everybody in the room stretched 
in his chair and said: 

“What a comfort a good pine 
knot is!” 

















































































PURPLE NIGHT 

Rainbow Boy went out to the 
woods to wait for Purple Night 
because he wanted to hear her 
story, and he knew that she could 
not come into his room, where the 
lighted candles were. He lay in 
the grass and sang while the sun 
went down and the sunset wasted 
away for he was certain that his 
friend would not come while there 
remained in the sky the faintest 
trace of red. 

But after the blue above him 
grew solemn-looking, Rainbow 


59 


60 


RAINBOW BOY 


Boy stopped singing and began to 
listen and pretty soon he knew that 
Purple Night was coming. First 
the birds in the bushes became 
very still, then the grass began to 
spread all its blades wide open. 
“That means she is bringing her 
daughter, Dew, with her,” Rain¬ 
bow Boy said to himself. Next a 
tree toad high up overhead began 
to cry: 

“Here! Here! Here!” 

And an old owl deep in the dusk 
asked: 

“Who? Who? Who?” 

Rainbow Boy had no need to 
ask who was here. He arose 
quickly and said: 



PURPLE NIGHT 


61 



Who? Who? Who?” 


“O great friend, I give you 
greeting.” 

Purple Night came close and 
touched him on the face, and 
though she seemed so grave her 
voice was very gentle when she 
asked: 

“What troubles send you to me 
for a dream, little friend?” 



62 


RAINBOW BOY 


Rainbow Boy had his answer 
ready: 

“O, Purple Night,” he said “I 
have come to you many times for 
a dream to drive away trouble, 
but this time I have come to you 
for a story. If you would tell me 
your story I should be so happy.” 

Now it was with Purple Night 
as with all other big, quiet people. 
She did not like to talk about her¬ 
self. But there is nothing in the 
world that can refuse to tell Rain¬ 
bow Boy its story when he asks 
for it, and so Purple Night began 
hers at once: 

“You know, for the Book has 
told you, I am very old. In the 



PURPLE NIGHT 


63 


beginning there were only the 
earth and I. We were near and 
dear to each other but we were 
lonely because there was no life, 
no voice to go singing from us to 
the stars, no cry of fear, no laugh 
of joy. 

“Earth wanted these things and 
when she found that 1 could give 
her only dark and cold she began 
to weep, and the sight of tears upon 
the face of my friend made me 
very sorrowful. We wept together 
and our tears ran down into the 
basin that earth had hollowed out 
among her hills and called a sea. 

“The sea was filled with the salt 
and bitter water of our tears, but 



64 RAINBOW BOY 

*-»-—.—»+ 


it, too, was dark and cold, and 
when I saw that I could do nothing 
to bring joy to the earth it seemed 
as though my heart would break. 
Rainbow Boy, you know how it is. 

“The thing we sorrow over most 
often proves to be the source of 
our purest stream of joy; but I was 
young then, and did not know the 
working out of wisdom. I went on 
weeping until the voice spoke and 
reproved me, saying: 

“ ‘Earth was made to be a happy 
place, and you have covered her 
face with tears. See now, Light 
shall come for the half of every 
day to take earth away from you 
and teach her to laugh and be kind 




PURPLE NIGHT 


65 


that she may be happy.’ 

’When I saw the glow of light 
coming through the cloud I could 
think of nothing but to find a place 
where I might hide, and said to 
myself: 

“The sea! The sea is deep and 
rough and dark. Light will never 
be able to find his way to the bot¬ 
tom of it, so I stole down to the 
bottom of the sea and lay hiding 
there, cold and sad, and very, very 
lonely. But not for long. 

“Light, the glad fellow, soon 
found out where I was hiding, and 
you know how he is, how he wants 
everybody to be honest and happy. 

“He could not come himself to 



66 


RAINBOW BOY 


the bottom of the sea, but he sent 
his brightest beams down to tell 
me that if I would only come up 
through the dark and cold and 
meet him half way, he would give 
me three little children to be my 
very own, and I should not be 
lonely any more. And these are 
the children light gave me—Dawn, 
my bright-eyed boy, who is so 
like his father; Dew, my gentle 
little daughter, who goes with me 
wherever the wind is not blow¬ 
ing,—Earth loves her so; and 
Dream, the dear, dear child who 
is with me always.” 

So her story ended and before 
Rainbow Boy could thank her for 




. - . 

I 

L , 

IV 




... 


■ ■ 






■ . . 


' 






“Daum, my 


bright eyed boy” 


67 







































































PURPLE NIGHT 69 


it, Purple Night had passed on 
swiftly with Dew and Dream to 
the bars where Dawn, her bright¬ 
eyed boy, was waiting. 



“Spiri&of-Change” 





CHUNK OF CHARCOAL 

One day Rainbow Boy went 
into the laundry, where old Mam¬ 
my was getting ready to do the 
ironing, and there he saw a Chunk 
of Charcoal lying by the furnace. 
He picked it up and gave a laugh: 

“How odd! you are the blackest 
fellow I ever saw,’’ he said. “And 
yet you have a very cheerful face. 
Won’t you tell me your story?” 

“Yes,” said Chunk of Charcoal, 
“my story is a long one, but I’ll 
tell it all to you if I have time be¬ 
fore Mammy burns me up.” 


70 


CHUNK OF CHARCOAL 


71 


“Burns you up,” cried Rain¬ 
bow Boy, “That’s very bad. What 
makes Mammy burn you up.” 

“Oh, she is going to burn me 
up to make the irons hot so she 
can iron your best white shirt for 
next Sunday.” 

“I would not like to be burnt 
up,” said Rainbow Boy. 

“You wouldn’t mind it if you 
were a Chunk of Charcoal, but if 
I am to tell you my story I had 
better begin because Mammy is 
getting her laundry stove ready. 

“Once upon a time I was part 
of a beautiful green tree, just the 
cleanest piece of wood one would 
wish to see. My duty was to pass 



72 


RAINBOW BOY 


up the sap from the roots to the 
branches and to bring back and 
stow away the matter the leaves 
breathed in for the tree.” 

“What kind of matter did the 
leaves breathe in for the tree” 
asked Rainbow Boy. 

“Oh, leaves breathe in the kind 
of matter you breathe out just as 
you breathe in the matter that the 
leaves breathe out. That is why 
a pine tree and a boy are such 
healthy company for each other. 
The pine tree breathes out ozone 
to make the boy strong and the 
boy breathes out carbon-dioxide 
to make the tree strong. And 
therefore that is why I am going 




“One day some men came with some saws and axes” 

73 







































































CHUNK OF CHARCOAL 


75 


to make such a good fire when 
I burn. 

“All the time I was in the tree I 
was stowing away carbon-dioxide. 
Every time a fire burns something, 
it turns loose a lot of carbon- 
dioxide and every time any living 
thing breathes it turns loose some 
more carbon-dioxide. The leaves 
breathed it in and I stowed it 
away. But to go on with my story: 

“One day some men came with 
saws and axes. They cut down 
my tree and a lot of others and be¬ 
gan to cut the trees up into logs 
four feet long. I was scared and 
unhappy because I thought I was 
going to die. 



76 


RAINBOW BOY 


“How could I live any longer 
when I was cut away from the 
leaves that did my breathing and 
the roots that fed me with sap! 
While I was lying there as 
wretched as a log could be, Spirit- 
of-Change came along. You know 
what a fine, happy fellow he is, 
Rainbow Boy. Why, he is never 
afraid of anything! When I told 
him how scared I was he laughed 
and said: 

“ ‘Let me Kiss you and you will 
be all right.’ 

“After he had kissed me he said: 

“ ‘Now you are coal wood. Very 
soon these men will stack you up 
with all these other sticks of coal 



CHUNK OF CHARCOAL 


77 


wood and cover you with dirt. 
They will set fire to you and you 
will smolder along for two weeks. 
Then the men will rake you out of 
the dust and ashes and cool you off 
and you will be a Chunk of Char¬ 
coal. 

“ ‘Men will buy you and carry 
you far away and before many 
days have passed you will be 
emptied out on the floor in Mam¬ 
my’s laundry. When ironing day 
comes, Mammy will burn you in 
her stove. But don’t let that 
trouble you because as fast as you 
burn you will turn into carbon- 
dioxide and fly up in the air 
straight to a tall green tree. The 



78 


RAINBOW BOY 


leaves of the tree will breathe you 
in and before you have time to 
think about it you will be back 
again in the heart of a tree.’ 

“I see,” said Rainbow Boy, “that 
is why you don’t mind being 
burnt. You know it is just a part 
of a regular plan.” 

“That’s it,” said the Chunk of 
Charcoal, “the great God has 
planned it all out, and when the 
time comes for us to begin being 
something different He sends 
Spirit-of-Change to kiss us and 
keep us from being scared.” 

Mammy picked up the Chunk of 
Charcoal and put it in the stove 
and very soon it began to glow 






« 


‘How odd. You are the blackest fellow l ever saw / he said.*’ 





79 































































































CHUNK OF CHARCOAL 


81 


and burn. Rainbow Boy watched 
it glow brighter and brighter until 
all its black had turned to a burn¬ 
ing red. 

“Just look, Mammy,” he said, 
“the Chunk of Charcoal is burn¬ 
ing up and it isn’t the least bit 
scared because it knows that the 
great God planned it all out and it 
is going to fly straight up into the 
heart of that tall strong tree. 



LITTLE SONG 

Rainbow Boy was trying to 
hurry home because the sky 
looked stormy and he was afraid 
it was going to rain. But try as 
hard as he would he could not get 
along very fast. He kept looking 
back over his shoulder to see how 
black the clouds were getting and 
every time he looked back, he 
stumbled. 

“Dear me,” he kept saying, “I’m 
afraid it will rain before I reach 
home. Mother will be so worried 
if I get wet.” 


82 


+ 


LITTLE SONG 


83 

- + 



“When he tried to jump back he slipped and fell.** 


It thundered so loud that Rain¬ 
bow Boy jumped right out of the 
road. When he tried to jump back 
he slipped and fell. 





84 RAINBOW BOY 

+—-——-- — -—+ 


“I know I’ll never get home now 
before it rains. My new suit will 
be ruined. Maybe I’ll get sick and 
have to go to bed and—” 

“Please, Rainbow Boy,’’ called a 
little voice at his feet, “please stop 
a minute and take me into your 
heart.” 

Rainbow Boy looked down and 
there right in the road before him 
was Little Song. 

“Please stop a minute,” asked the 
little fellow. 

“Oh, I cannot stop now,” said 
Rainbow Boy, “I’m in a very big 
hurry.” 

“Oh, please, please,” coaxed Lit¬ 
tle Song. “It won’t take but one 




LITTLE SONG 


85 

-«+ 


breath to put me into your heart 
and if I stay out here I’ll get wet 
and then I’ll be sick and have to 
take medicine.” 

‘‘Poor little fellow,” Rainbow 
Boy said. He stopped and put 
Little Song into his heart. 

“Oh, this feels fine,” said Little 
Song. “Now, let’s sing.” 

“Sing,” cried Rainbow Boy. 
“Can’t you see those clouds? Don’t 
you hear that thunder? This is no 
time to sing.” 

“Oh, yes it is,” said Little Song. 
“When the clouds are turning 
black and the day is growing dark, 
and you are a long way from 
home and beginning to feel lonely 



86 


RAINBOW BOY 


and scared, that’s the very time to 
sing. Don’t you know that?” 

“Oh, nonsense, nonsense,” said 
Rainbow Boy, “I haven’t any time 
to talk about it. Go ahead and sing 
if you want to.” 

“But I want you to sing with 
me. 

“You want me to sing? It’s fool¬ 
ish, Little Song, how can I sing 
when I am in such a hurry.” 

“It doesn’t take any time to sing. 
Please, Rainbow Boy, sing this 
song with me. Start now, both of 
us together: 

“The children sing in far Japan, 
The children sing in Spain. 

The organ and the organ man 
Are singing in the rain.” 






LITTLE SONG 


87 

--»+ 


Rainbow Boy could not help 
laughing. 

“We’ll be singing in the rain too 
first thing we know.” 

Little Song laughed too. 

“That was fine. Let’s sing it 
again.” 

They sang the song again and 
when it was done they laughed 
and sang it again. Every time 
they sang it faster and faster. 

The faster they sang the faster 
Rainbow Boy walked. He forgot 
to look back at the gathering 
clouds so of course he stopped 
stumbling. The next time it thun¬ 
dered he was singing so loud he 
hardly heard it. 



88 


RAINBOW BOY 


+ 


“Let’s see how fast and how 
loud we can sing it this time,” said 
Little Song. 

“All right,” called Rainbow Boy, 
and away they went singing mer¬ 
rily: 

• “The children sing in far Japan, 

The children sing in Spain. 

The organ and the organ-man 
Are singing in the rain.” 

As they finished the last line, 
Rainbow Boy saw a fence-corner 
that he knew. 

Look at that, Little Song, we? 
are almost home. Let’s run!” 

Just as the first big drops fell 
Rainbow Boy dashed in at the 
gate and ran up on the porch 



LITTLE SONG 


89 

-* 



*A boy*s eyes look as brave as a man*s.” 


where his mother was watching 
for him. 

“Oh, Mother,” he cried. “Guess 
what I have in my heart.” 

“I don’t have to guess,” his 
mother said. “I know what you 























90 RAINBOW BOY 

+ -- . — --- —-* 


have in your heart. It’s Little 
Song.” 

‘Well, Mother! How could you 
tell.” 

His mother smiled: 

‘‘I could tell by your eyes,” she 
said. A boy s eyes look as brave 
as a man’s when he has Little 
Song in his heart. 





LONELY PLACE 


One morning Rainbow Boy 
started out and before long he 
came to Lonely Place. He stopped 
to look and to listen. The sun 
shone down sadly, the wind 
sighed, and everything was so 
hushed that Rainbow Boy was al¬ 
most frightened. 

“Oh, Lonely Place,” he whis¬ 
pered, “why are you so lonely?” 

Lonely Place smiled sorrow¬ 
fully: 

“Oh, Rainbow Boy,” she 
answered, “why are you so cheer¬ 
ful?” 

“I don’t know,” Rainboy Boy 
told her, “I just happen to be that 


91 


92 


RAINBOW BOY 


way.” 

“But I know,” Lonely Place said 
softly, “you are friendly with 
Spirit-of-Change. You like him, 
don’t you?” 

“Indeed I do! He is a fine lively 
fellow. Aren’t you and he good 
friends?” 

“No, he and I quarreled a long 
time ago and he has never come 
near me since.” Lonely Place 
sighed and Rainbow Boy came 
nearer: 

“Tell me about it,” he said. 

“I was young,” Lonely Place be¬ 
gan. “I was young and I wanted to 
be beautiful. I did not want to 
work for beauty, I just wanted to 




“And everything was so hushed** 

93 





































LONELY PLACE 


95 


sit still and become lovely looking. 
Spirit-of-Change kept coming to 
me and wanting me to do this and 
to do that, and he said I would not 
be of any account unless I did 
something. I answered him with 
the poet’s line: 

“ ‘They also serve who only stand 
and wait.’ 

“He said that waiting was doing 
something—that in so far as he 
knew, it was the hardest work in 
the world to do. And he went on 
talking, telling me that nobody 
could be beautiful unless he were 
busy. 

“I repeated another verse I 
knew: 



96 


RAINBOW BOY 


“ ‘Peace and quietness are pleasant, 
and through them runs the path that 
leads to all serenity of beauty.’ 

“He said, ‘Yes, that is true too, 
but sitting down thinking about 
nothing but yourself all day long 
isn’t “peace and quietness’’—it is 
stagnation and selfishness.’ 

“I grew selfish then because 
what he said sounded as if it might 
be true and I told him he had bet¬ 
ter live his life and leave me to live 
my own. 

“And what did he say then. 
Lonely Place?’’ 

“He said, ‘All right, I don’t have 
to stand knocking at a shut door. 
There are plenty of people ready 











































LONELY PLACE 99 

4 *"--------------------«--- - -----«■-M-...-....- Ut |. 


to let me in.’ ” 

“So he went away?’’ 

“Yes, he went away. And as 
soon as he was out of sight I said to 
myself: 

“ ‘Now I will have peace and 
quietness.’ And I sat down to be¬ 
come beautiful. But hardly had 
my eyes closed to dream when a 
calf began to bleat down there 
and a cow over yonder moo’d and 
moo’d. 

“How could I have peace and 
quietness when all this bleating 
and moo’ing were going on. Then 
1 thought what I could do. I could 
wither my grass so no beast would 




100 
*«—. 


RAINBOW BOY 


—+ 



come to browse on it. I began at 
once to wither every grass blade 
that I had and the cattle drew away 
farther and farther until there was 


“/ could wither my grass so no beast would come to 
browse on it.” 

no browsing beast left in my 
meadows. 

“And again I sat down to dream 
and grow beautiful, but first one 







LONELY PLACE 


101 
—* 


bird began to sing and then an¬ 
other and another until the air rang 
and quivered with their trills and 
warbles. I started from my 
dreams in anger. How could I 
dream of beauty while all these 
birds were here to awake the 
silence with their singing? I soon 
saw what I could do and I called 
aloud: 

‘“I will do it! 1 will dry up all 
my brooks so that the birds will 
have no water to drink. A bird 
cannot sing unless it has water. 

“Some of my brooks were very 
pretty; it did seem a pity to dry 
them up, but I had to have peace 
and quietness. I drained the little 



102 


RAINBOW BOY 


brooks drier and drier until there 
was nothing but a few red stones 
left to show where the water had 
run. The birds flew away farther 
and farther. 

“That night when Moon came 
up she looked down on my dry 
brooks and withered grass and she 
said: 

“ ‘Why, what have we here?’ 

“I answered: 

“ ‘We have peace and quiet¬ 
ness.’ 

“Moon said nothing more, just 
smiled her wan white smile and 
covered her face with a cloud. 

“Next morning Light came 
laughing along and stopped his 




103 


















LONJSLY PLACE 


105 


laughter to exclaim in surprise: 

“ ‘What has become of the life 
that was given you to care for? 
What have you done with your 
birds and beasts?’ 

“And I answered again: 

“‘I have driven them all away 
that I may have peace and quiet 
and so grow into serene beauty.’ 

“Light flashed his bright eyes all 
over me and saw that it was true 
and he said in dismay: 

“ ‘You have sent your birds and 
beasts away that you may have 
peace and quiet? Oh, foolish one! 
Don’t you know that there can be 
no peace and quiet without life? 
Peace is strength in repose and 



106 


RAINBOW BOY 


quiet is harmony of purpose and 
power. 

“ ‘You should have grown your 
grass so deep and so sweet that no 
beast should ever bleat with hun¬ 
ger, and you should have fed and 
watered your birds until their sing¬ 
ing became a choir of joyous con¬ 
tent. But you, in your silly selfish¬ 
ness, what have you done? Dried 
up your brooks and withered your 
grass. Do you know what you 
have made of yourself? Ah, well! 
A little child shall tell you.’ 

“He called a little child and 
showed me to her. The child 
looked at me and listened and ran 
away crying: 



LONELY PLACE 


107 


“ ‘Oh, Mother, Mother, come 
and see Poor Lonely Place.’ ” 
“But surely,’’ Rainbow Boy said, 
“surely you need not stay lonely 
always. You can call back your 
beasts and your birds.” 

Lonely Place spoke sadly: 

“You forget my grass is with¬ 
ered and my brooks are dry.” 




PLEASANT WORD 


One day Rainbow Boy was go¬ 
ing along a dismal street when all 
at once he saw it light up and be¬ 
gin to look happy. 

“Ah,” he said, “Pleasant Word 
must be coming. Now I shall have 
a chance to talk to that fellow. He 
is one of the nicest lads I know, 
and I have been wanting to hear 
his story ever since I met him that 
first time.” 

Pleasant Word came along mak¬ 
ing everybody he passed look 
happier, and when Rainbow Boy 
asked him to stop and talk a min¬ 
ute, he nodded nicely and said: 


108 


PLEASANT WORD 109 

+ - . --- *—* 



“One day he was going along a 
dismal street 


“All right.” 

“I want you to tell me your 
story,” said Rainbow Boy. I want 
to know if there is earth, air, and 
water in you and if you were ever 
kissed by Spirit-of-Change.” 













110 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Now, Rainbow Boy,” said Pleas¬ 
ant Word, “I am certain you know 
that there is bound to be earth, air 
and water in every living thing, 
and that every living thing is sure 
to be kissed some day by Spirit-of- 
Change.” 

“Well, anyway,” said Rainbow 
Boy, “I want you to tell me your 
story.” 

“All right,” Pleasant Word re¬ 
plied cheerily. “It is not a long 
story, and you shall hear it. In 
the beginning, long ago, in a dark, 
unhappy time my name was Sul¬ 
len Silence. Everybody that came 
near scowled at me and I scowled 
back at everybody with all my 




PLEASANT WORD 


111 


might. The world was a cold and 
cruel place and I was just as cold 
and cruel as the world was. 

‘I spent most of my time in an 
ugly corner with Dislike and 
Dyspepsia and some other dis¬ 
gruntled people, but 1 didn’t like 
them, though they seemed to like 
me well enough to try to keep me 
between them and away from 
everybody else. 

“One day while I was sulking 
and scowling there I caught sight 
of a bright light coming toward 
us, and as soon as Dislike and all 
the rest of our grumpy crowd 
caught sight of that light they be¬ 
gan grabbing at me and pushing 




112 


RAINBOW BOY 


me between them. 

“ ‘It’s Spirit - of - Change,’ they 
cried. ‘Here, quick, Sullen Silence, 
get between us. There is that 
light-headed fellow that is forever 
upsetting things and trying to 
make people different.’ 

I was between them all right. I 
couldn’t help myself, they grabbed 
and pushed me so; but while 
I was sitting there watching the 
light coming nearer I began think¬ 
ing about what they had said, — 
that it was Spirit-of-Change and 
that he was forever trying to make 
people different. I wondered if 
he would try to make me differ¬ 
ent, and if he did, how different 





‘7 was sitting there watching the light coming nearer 

113 





































PLEASANT WORD 


115 


he would make me. 

“Many times when I was sulk¬ 
ing in my corner I had seen pass¬ 
ing people meet and shake hands 
and laugh together. I wondered if 
Spirit-of-Change could make me 
so different that people would 
ever want to shake hands with 
me. I thought how fine it would 
be not to have everybody scowl¬ 
ing at me all the time, and I told 
myself that if Spirit-of-Change 
came near enough I would ask 
him to make me different. 

“I don’t suppose, though, that I 
would have asked him, because 
you know how it is, Rainbow 
Boy. It is easy enough to wish 



116 


RAINBOW BOY 


you were different, but it is not 
so easy to get to work and do 
something to make yourself dif¬ 
ferent. 

“But it happened that just be¬ 
fore Spirit-of-Change reached me 
he came to a puddle of the mud¬ 
diest water you ever saw. The 
puddle cried out to him and asked 
him to make it different. Spirit-of- 
Change stooped down and kissed 
it, and right away the muddy 
water turned into a lovely little 
white cloud, and when I saw it 
go sailing away so happily high 
up in the blue sky I called out and 
said: 

“ ‘O Spirit - of - Change, please 




PLEASANT WORD 


117 


come here!’ 

Gladly, he said, ‘I am always 
glad to go to anybody that calls 
me. Now, you sorry-looking fel¬ 
low, what can I do for you?’ 

“I told him I wanted to be made 
different so that people would 
stop scowling at me. Spirit-of- 
Change began to laugh. You 
have heard him laugh, I guess. It’s 
like birds and brooks and all kinds 
of merry things. I knew he was 
laughing at me, but he was so 
merry, I couldn’t get angry. 

“ ‘Boy,’ he said, ‘don’t you know 
that if you want people to stop 
scowling at you all you’ve got to 
do is to stop scowling at them?’ 




118 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Then he kissed me on both 
cheeks and slapped me on the 
shoulder and said: 

“ ‘Now step out there in the 
path and see how nicely you can 
say good-morning to those wor¬ 
ried-looking women.’ 

“I did it as nicely as I could, and 
the women stopped looking so 
worried, and nodded and said 
good-morning to me. As they 
went by, I heard one of them say: 

“ ‘That was Pleasant Word that 
spoke to us. Isn’t he a nice person 
to meet?’ 

“I was so surprised I couldn’t 
really believe what I heard and 
hurried back to ask Spirit-of- 



PLEASANT WORD 119 

+— ----- + 


Change, but the bright, busy chap 
had gone on his way and while I 
was hurrying after him I met 
some anxious men that had just 
been laid off and were looking for 
another job. I gave them as nice 
a good-morning as I could. They 
each nodded to me kindly though 
I could see they were not happy, 
and I heard one say to the others: 

“ ‘It is fine to meet Pleasant 
Word when you are in need of 
cheer’.” 

“So I knew it was true. The 
Spirit had given me a nice new 
name. I wasn’t to be Sullen 
Silence any more. I ran as fast as 
I could until I was far away from 





“It is fine to meet Pleasant Word.” 


120 















PLEASANT WORD 


121 


that ugly corner and its grumpy 
crowd and I have been very busy 
going to and fro in the world ever 
since. 

“All I can do is to give a little 
cheery greeting to the people I 
meet, but everybody seems to be 
so glad to meet me that I am just 
as happy as happy can be. I know, 
Rainbow Boy, it is jolly to be a 
Pleasant Word.” 




OLD STICK 

Rainbow Boy was going 
through a swampy place one day 
when he came upon Old Stick. 
Its bark was falling off, the mold 
had gathered, and it looked all 
dead and done with. 

“Poor Old Stick,” said Rainbow 
Boy, softly, “how dead you are!” 

“Not so dead as you seem to 
think,” Old Stick said cheerfully. 
“If you sit down here and watch 
a while, you will see that I am 
very much alive. Spirit-of-Change 


122 











■ 


WOKk 

’XvAv >'r ‘Tv.v/v'V.-5/!•><'•;. S\ 








“Not so dead as you seem to think** 


123 




























































































OLD STICK 


125 


has slipped in under my bark and 
is urging Earth, Air, and Water to 
go away with him. Such a talk 
and plan, it is enough to make my 
moss turn green again.” 

“Earth, Air, and Water!” said 
Rainbow Boy. “Are they all liv¬ 
ing with you?” 

Old Stick lit up his lichens with 
a smile: 

“They all are with me,” he said. 
“Earth, Air, and Water are my¬ 
self.” 

“Earth, Air, and Water are you? 
I wish you could tell me how that 
is?” 

“Oh, it is easy enough to tell,” 
Old Stick replied, “but it is a long 
story.” 



126 


RAINBOW BOY 


“I like long stories,” cried Rain¬ 
bow Boy. 

“Well, once upon a time my 
heart was a hard little seed. It 
cared for nothing and so, of course, 
nothing cared for it. It just kept 
on lying there in the bed of dry 
dust where the wind had dropped 
it, hard almost as a pebble, with¬ 
out thought or feeling, until one 
day Spirit-of-Change happened to 
pass that way. 

“As soon as he saw my heart, 
nothing would do but he must get 
inside of it. And as soon as he got 
there he set up a shout, calling 
Earth, Air, and Water to come 
quickly, he had found a fine place 





























































OLD STICK 


129 


for them to form a home. They 
came, crowding in a hurry, but 
my heart was a hard little place 
and didn’t take people in easily. 

“They went to work, though, to 
get in. First Water began and 
poured drops down on me until I 
was wet through and had to swell. 
That cracked my shell just the least 
little bit, but in a minute Air had 
slipped through the crack and was 
saying to Spirit-of-Change: 

“ ‘Here, help me make this hole 
bigger so his roots can get out. 
Earth wants them.’ 

“They pushed and pried until 
between them they split my heart 
wide open. Oh, it grew vexed 



130 


RAINBOW BOY 


enough at being treated that way. 
It didn’t want to get soft and tend¬ 
er and open so wide that it could 
take in everybody. 

“It wanted to stay hard as a 
pebble and care for nothing. But 
there is no use in getting vexed 
with Spirit-of-Change. When he 
comes he is going to have things 
his own way. 

“So I began to grow. Oh, Rain¬ 
bow Boy, did you ever begin to 
grow? Do you know how it feels? 

“It hurts, of course; you have to 
let go of so many narrow notions, 
and you have to stretch and strain 
to get hold of the fine, big notions, 
and yet it is so nice! You reach 



OLD STICK 


131 


--- 

out to the rain and the sun, and 
you open your heart to Earth and 
Air and Water. You keep getting 
bigger and braver. You laugh and 
wave your branches, and you call 
out to all things that want shade 
or shelter: 

“ ‘Come on! come on! I am 
strong enough for us both.’ 

“Oh, it is nice to grow, even if 
you do have to struggle with the 
storm and stand bare-headed be¬ 
neath the lightning. It is better to 
grow than to stay snug and safe in 
a hard little seed.” 

“Yes,” said Rainbow Boy, “it is 
nice to grow. But now, Old Stick, 
you are dead. You can’t grow 
any more.” 



132 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Dead?” Old Stick’s smile 
gleamed again upon his lichens. 
“Oh, little Friend, don’t you know 
that when you have opened your 
heart wide to Earth, Air, and 
Water you cannot die? Spirit-of- 
Change may come to you and 
make a great bustle inside your 
bark, but you will not die. A bit 
of you will fly away with Air; some 
of you will flow away with Water; 
more of you will mellow away 
with Earth. But pretty soon you 
will hear Spirit-of-Change calling 
you to form another home. Then 
all the parts of you will be gathered 
together again with life pulsing 
freshly in your heart.” 




BROKEN WORD 

As Rainbow Boy came whis¬ 
tling down the hill he thought 
he heard someone sobbing and 
stopped his whistling to listen. 

“True enough,” he said, “there 


133 


134 


RAINBOW BOY 


is someone sobbing in that thicket. 
I am going to see who it is.” 

He left the path, pushed his way 
through the bushes and came to 
a little fellow lying on the ground. 

“Hello,” he said, “why are you 
lying in the dirt crying like that. 
Why don’t you get up from there 
and try to be a man.” 

The little fellow lifted his face, 
and it was the dirtiest face Rain¬ 
bow Boy had ever seen. 

“I can’t get up,” the dirty face 
said, “I can never get up again.” 

“Goodness,” cried Rainbow 
Boy, “that sounds untrue to me. 
What is your name?” 

“My name is Word,” said the 



BROKEN WORD 


135 


little fellow, and he began to cry 
again harder than before. 

“Hold on!” said Rainbow Boy, 
“I don’t see why you should cry 
because your name is Word. The 
Words are good people. I know 
a person who thinks more of his 
Word than of anything else he has. 
He’ll fight for his Word any day.” 

“Oh, I know,” sobbed the little 
dirty fellow. “It’s all right when 
you are a good Word, but I’m a 
broken Word and nobody will 
ever have anything more to do 
with me. It is so terrible, Rainbow 
Boy to be a broken Word. Every¬ 
body kicks you around and laughs 
at you. I couldn’t bear it. I sneaked 



136 


RAINBOW BOY 


out into this thicket and hid my¬ 
self. And I will have to stay here 
till I die. A mean, broken Word.” 
And he began to sob again with 
his face in the dirt. 

Rainbow Boy felt sorry for the 
poor, dirty fellow. 

“Have courage,” he said, “it 
can’t be so bad as that. God 
always gives a fellow another 
chance. Sit up now like a man and 
tell me your story.” 

Not even a Broken Word could 
refuse to tell its story to Rainbow 
Boy, so the dirty little fellow sat up 
and said: 

“It won’t take long to tell my 
story. Once upon a time I was a 



BROKEN WORD 


137 


nice clean word. I belonged to a 
boy named Harry. He wasn’t a 
very big boy or a very brave boy 
but he took good care of me and 
I was very happy. People called 
me ‘Harry’s Word’ and all the 
other Words gave me a nod and 
a smile when we met. That was 
before I was broken. There isn’t 
a Word in the world that would 
give me a nod and a smile now.” 

‘‘Go on. Tell me how you came 
to be broken.” 

“Harry broke me. He didn t 
want to break me. He cried when 
he did it. He knew how hard I 
had tried to keep myself bright 
and clean so everybody would 



138 


RAINBOW BOY 


say ‘That’s Harry’s word and it’s 
as good as gold.’ But he broke 
me. He did! It wasn’t my fault. I 
wanted to be all right. But Harry 
broke me. And now I am a poor 
broken thing that nobody has any 
use for.” 

‘‘Cheer up,” said Rainbow Boy, 
“I’m just as sorry for you as I can 
be. What made Harry break 
you?” 

“He became scared. That’s 
what he did. Some little girls 
knew where a quail’s nest was. 
They were watching it to see when 
the little quails hatched. They told 
Harry they would show it to him 
if he would promise not to tell the 



BROKEN WORD 


139 


big boys who wanted to get the 
eggs. Harry promised. The big 
boys asked Harry where the nest 
was and Harry said he had given 
the girls his Word not to tell. 

“The boys laughed out loud and 
said: 

“ ‘Well, if you do not want a 
thrashing you had better break 
your Word.’ 

“I clung tight to Harry and 
begged him not to break me. He 
told the boys he wouldn’t break 
his word, and I was so proud of 
him. But the big boys laughed out 
loud again and began to cut at 
Harry’s legs with their long 
switches. 



140 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Harry began to cry and then— 
he broke me. Oh, Rainbow Boy, 
when those girls came and saw 
me lying there all broken in the 
dirt I wanted to die. It was ter¬ 
rible the way they looked at me. 
And the boys that had made 
Harry break me, never lost a 
chance to give me a kick. There 
wasn’t anything too mean for 
them to say about Harry’s Word. 
So I sneaked away and hid in this 
thicket and I will have to stay here 
as long as I live and be nothing but 
a mean. Broken Word.” 

“Oh, no you haven’t!” cried 
Rainbow Boy. “You have had bad 




BROKEN WORD 


141 


fortune and I feel for you with all 
my heart; but as I told you before, 
God always gives a fellow another 
chance. There’s a creek I know of 
that people call Pluck Creek. You 
can wash in it till you are as clean 
as a daisy and then we are going 
to find Harry and try him again.” 

Broken Word jumped up: 

“Oh, Rainbow Boy, do you 
think I could ever be clean again?” 

“Yes, indeed, come on and let’s 
try for it. I’ll show you where the 
creek is.” 

Broken Word dived into the 
clear cold water of Pluck Creek 
and washed himself until he had 
washed away all his dirt and tears. 



142 


RAINBOW BOY 


When he came out nice and clean 
nobody would have ever known 
he was a Broken Word if his eyes 
had not been so sad. 

“Never mind,” Rainbow Boy 
said, “All of us have to be sad 
sometimes. Now let’s find Harry.” 

When they found Harry he was 
going to school. His head hung 
down and he looked as lonesome 
as a boy always looks when he has 
broken his Word. 

“Good morning,” Rainbow Boy 
said. “Here’s your Word come to 
try you again.” 

“My Word,” said Harry, “do 
you mean that clean-looking fel¬ 
low is the Word I threw into the 
dirt? 



BROKEN WORD 143 

+ ---- . --- + 


“Why you plucky fellow, if you 
will just come back and be my 
word once more the big boys can 
beat me till the blood runs, but I’ll 
never break you again.” 









PRETTY PEBBLE 


One day when he was coming 
from the brook, Rainbow Boy 
picked up a pebble in the path. It 
was a clear gray on one side and 
a bright pink on the other and 
right away he said: 

“O Pretty Pebble won’t you 
please tell me your story?” 

“Why, of course,” said Pretty 
Pebble, “I will be glad to tell you 
my story. But perhaps it isn’t 
much of a story, there are not any 
lions in it.” 

“That’s all right,” said Rainbow 
Boy, “the lion told me his story 


144 


+" 


PRETTY PEBBLE 


145 
—* 


one day at the Zoo. Now I want 
to hear your story. Please begin 
just as far back as you can 
remember.” 

“Well,” said Pretty Pebble, “the 
first thing I remember I was lying 
in the brook and the busy water 
was polishing me to make me 
smooth and bright. It was a pleas¬ 
ant place but I was not at all happy 
there because I did not know, 
Rainbow Boy, that we cannot be 
happy in any place unless we have 
some work to do there. I know 
that now, but I did not know it 
then.” 

“I thought that work was hard 
and disagreeable and that the way 



146 


RAINBOW BOY 


to be happy was to sit down in a 
good place and watch others do 
the work. 

“So I found a soft place in the 
mud at the edge of the brook and 
sat down to look on. It was very 
stupid and everything around me 
seemed stupid and still. Out in 
the middle of the brook were a lot 
of pebbles holding on to the bot¬ 
tom of the brook with one cheek 
and chattering all the time. I 
watched them and saw they were 
as busy as they could be catching 
every grain of sand that the water 
brought along and packing it down 
between them. I watched them 
for a long time and then I thought 
to myself: 




“One day, when he was coming from the brook. Rainbow Boy picked up a pebble 

in the path ” 


147 














































































. 





































































































































































































































■ ' 










V 











•* * 






























PRETTY PEBBLE 


149 


You foolish things, don’t you 
know that no matter how hard 
you work or how much sand you 
catch there will always be more 
grains of sand coming along?’ 

“Out in the middle of the stream 
was Current just as busy as it could 
be catching every drop of water 
that came trickling down from the 
spring at the head or from the rills 
at the side of the brook. How that 
Current did work, catching the 
drops and hurrying them away. 
And I thought to myself: 

“ ‘You foolish thing don’t you 
know that no matter how many 
drops you hurry down there will 




150 


RAINBOW BOY 


always be more drops trickling 
along?’ 

“The more I looked on the more 
useless everything seemed and the 
more unhappy I became. And I 
suppose I would have turned into 
a black stone if Light had not come 
along and caught sight of me. He 
looked at me and laughed; then he 
called Spirit-of-Change and sent 
him down to kiss me. I didn’t 
want Spirit-of-Change to kiss me; 
I felt sick and mean and I wanted 
to be let alone. But Spirit-of- 
Change kissed me anyway and 
said: 

“Go ahead now, start to work, 
start to work and be happy!” 



PRETTY PEBBLE 


151 


Why work?’ I said, ‘what is 
the reason for starting to work? 
Work never ends.’ 

“At that, Spirit - of - Change 
laughed until all the water around 
us was glittering with his glee. 

“ ‘Oh, you sick Stone,’ he said. 
‘Of course work never ends. Don’t 
you know that if work ended, 
gladness would have to end also. 
And what would Life do without 
gladness? Here, Ripple, help me 
make a Pretty Pebble well.’ 

“And you know, Rainbow Boy, 
how all the Ripples love Spirit-of- 
Change. All he has to do is to 
beckon and they begin sparkling 
and dancing. So as soon as he 



152 


RAINBOW BOY 


called, they came running, dozens 
of them. They slipped under and 
around me, they rolled me over 
and over until I was way out in 
the middle of the bed where all 
the pebbles were crying ‘Catch it, 
catch it!’ and hugging the sand 
down hard with their cheeks. 

“One of the busiest of them 
cried to me: ‘Take hold, take hold. 
We are trying to catch sand 
enough to build a bar so that 
when little children come to wade 
they can cross from bank to bank 
in safety.’ 

“It was strange, but just as soon 
as I heard that and thought of the 
way those little children would 



PRETTY PEBBLE 


153 


laugh when they found they could 
go all the way across I seemed to 
become glad all over. In a min¬ 
ute I had my cheek pressed hard 
to the bed and was catching sand 
as fast as I could. I was so happy, 
no wonder my cheek turned pink. 

Pretty Pebble stopped talking as 
though the story was ended; but 
Rainbow Boy asked for more. 

“That cannot be all of your 
story,’’ he said, “because I did not 
find you in the brook. I found you 
here in the path. Can you not go 
on and tell me how you came to 
be so far from the brook? 

“Well,” said Pretty Pebble, “we 
worked hard and made our sand 



154 RAINBOW BOY 

+ - — -- —•—■— ---+ 


bar and many little children came 
to wade on it and the little calves 
too that were afraid to follow the 
cows through the deeper water 
used to cross on our bar. Oh, we 
were proud of our work and 
happy to see how it made others 
happy. But one day a little child 
came to wade and a nice old lady 
came with her to see that she did 
not get into water that was too 
deep for her. When the child 
came to the middle of the brook 
she saw me and picked me up, 
crying: 

“ ‘Oh, I have found such a 
pretty pink pebble.’ But when she 
turned me over she saw that my 




PRETTY PEBBLE 


155 
—* 


+■ 



“One day a little child came to wade 

other cheek was gray and she car¬ 
ried me to the wise old lady, 
asking: 

“ ‘Why is there pink on one side 
and gray on the other?’ 

“ ‘It had to hold on as well as 
to work,’ said the wise old lady. 
‘It is with pebbles as it is with 




















156 


RAINBOW BOY 


little children. To do well they must 
be true and steady as well as busy, 
and it is because it has held 
patiently and firmly to its tasks 
that your Pretty Pebble has turned 
to this steadfast and tender gray.’ 

“ ‘But why did this side turn 
pink?’ asked the child. 

“The wise old lady smiled: 

“ ‘Your Pretty Pebble turned 
pink,’ she said, ‘because it did 
gladly all the things it had to do, 
serving sweetly and merrily and 
making the best of its work.’ 

“ ‘It is a pretty pink,’ said the 
child. 

“ ‘Yes,’ said the wise old lady, 
‘it is a pretty pink, very rosy and 



PRETTY PEBBLE 


157 


very clear, the color that comes 
only through cheerfulness.’ 

“ ‘It is so beautiful,’ said the 
child, ‘may I take it home and put 
it on a cushion?’ 

“ ‘You may,’ said the nice old 
lady, ‘but it will not stay beautiful 
very long on a cushion. Its colors 
will soon grow cloudy.’ 

“ ‘Why?’ asked the child. 

“ ‘The reason,’ said the wise old 
lady, ‘is because it is with pebbles 
as it is with everybody else; it 
takes plenty of work and plenty of 
play to keep them bright.’ 

“ ‘I won’t keep it but a little 
while,’ said the child, and she 
started to carry me home, but her 



158 


RAINBOW BOY 


hands were full of many things 
and when she tripped on that root 
there, she dropped me without 
knowing it. I tried and I tried to 
get back to the brook but it was 
too far away.” 

Rainbow Boy spoke softly: 

“It is not so far away. I will 
take you back to your brook. I 
too, would like to keep you on a 
cushion, but I know the wise old 
lady is right; you would grow dull 
and listless doing nothing. It is 
only work that can keep one 
smooth and bright.” 

So he carried Pretty Pebble 
back to the brook where the 
little sand bar stretched across 



PRETTY PEBBLE 


159 



from bank to bank. 

“Goodbye, Pretty Pebble,” he 
said softly, and watched her dive 
eagerly through the clear water 
and press her cheek down close 
to the shining sand. 

“I wonder,” Rainbow Boy said 
to himself, “which side of her is 




160 


RAINBOW BOY 


really the prettier, the one she is 
good with or the one she is gay 
with.” He thought a moment, 
then he smiled: 

‘‘Oh, yes; I know. It takes them 
both, the good side and the gay 
side to make a Pretty Pebble.” 





WATER HYACINTH 

“I am going to see Water- 
Hyacinth,” Rainbow Boy kept 
saying to himself as he fought his 
way through the tangles and 
thickets of the swamp. “I am go¬ 
ing to see Water-Hyacinth. The 
wise old woman told me I should 
find Water-Hyacinth growing in 
the bayou that runs through this 
swamp and the wise old woman 
always knows.” 

Just as he said that, Rainbow 
Boy pushed through the last 
thicket and came out on the 
bayou bank. True enough, ex- 


161 


162 


RAINBOW BOY 


actly as the wise old woman had 
said, there was Water-Hyacinth 
growing in the soft brown water 
of the bayou. 

“She is the most beautiful flower 
I ever saw,” Rainbow Boy whis¬ 
pered as he stood and looked and 
looked at the lovely hyacinth col¬ 
ored blossoms that tossed and 
nodded among their bright green 
leaves. 

“Oh Water-Hyacinth,” he called, 
“I think you are the loveliest flower 
I ever saw.” 

Instead of looking pleased at 
what he said, Water-Hyacinth 
hung her head and began to cry. 

“Don’t do that,” Rainbow Boy 




163 



















164 


RAINBOW BOY 


begged, “Oh please, pretty flower, 
don’t do that. Did I say anything 
to hurt your feelings?” 

“No, no,” sobbed Water-Hya¬ 
cinth. “You are always kind and 
gentle. Of course you did not say 
anything to hurt my feelings. Let 
me tell you my story, Rainbow 
Boy, and then you will understand 
why I am so sad.” 

“I should love to hear your 
story,” Rainbow Boy said, “if it 
will not make you too sad.” 

Water-Hyacinth smiled sorrow¬ 
fully: 

“It will make me ashamed rather 
than sad,” she said, “but I am go¬ 
ing to tell you. It began many 



WATER HYACINTH 


165 


months ago. I was an ugly bulb 
and I squatted there in the mud so 
ugly that neither the fish nor the 
frogs would have anything to do 
with me. Of course I knew that 
fish and frogs cared only for things 
that were good to eat, but I was 
so lonely that I think I would have 
been glad to be eaten rather than 
sit there in the mud all by myself 
any longer. 

“One day while I was moping 
over my lonely lot a bird flew 
down to drink near by and asked 
me if I never had any company. I 
told the bird that I was too ugly 
for company.” 

“ ‘You poor thing,’ said the bird, 



166 

4 .—— 


RAINBOW BOY 


■* 



“A bird flew down to drink near by.” 


‘I am going to send Spirit-of- 
Change to help you.’ 

“The bird kept its word and 
pretty soon Spirit-of-Change came 
to see if he could help me. 

‘I can kiss you and change 
you into something else,’ he said. 
















WATER HYACINTH 


167 


if you will tell me what you want 
to be.’ 

I knew what I wanted to be. I 
was sick and tired of being ugly 
and I told the Spirit so. 

“ ‘I want to be beautiful,’ I said, 
‘I want to be beautiful.’ 

“ ‘Is that all?’ asked the Spirit, ‘Is 
beauty all you want?’ 

“ ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ I said, ‘I want 
to be beautiful. I am sick of being 
ugly. If you can make me beauti¬ 
ful please kiss me as quickly as you 
can.’ 

“ ‘But think a bit,’ said the Spirit, 
‘beautiful people can be as lone¬ 
some as ugly ones sometimes.’ 

“Oh, Rainbow Boy, I didn’t be- 



168 


RAINBOW BOY 


lieve the Spirit when he told me 
that. I thought he must be mis¬ 
taken. I didn’t see how anyone 
who was beautiful could ever be 
lonesome. So I said: 

“ ‘I don’t care! I don’t care! 
Make me the most beautiful thing 
in the swamp and I shall not care 
how lonesome I am.’ 

“So Spirit-of-Change kissed me. 

“Right away, up from my ugly 
bulb shot a bunch of green 
leaves, the brightest, loveliest I 
ever saw and I thought I was 
already as beautiful as beautiful 
could be. But the grass laughed at 
the idea: 

“ ‘I am just as green as you are,’ 
it said. 





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169 





























































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. 



WATER HYACINTH 


171 


The Spirit had promised I 
should be the loveliest thing in the 
swamp so I said to the laughing 
grass: 

Just wait till I blossom and 
then you will see which of us is 
the more lovely.’ 

“ ‘All right,’ said the grass, ‘but 
hurry up because I am going to 
have company for dinner and I 
can’t wait long.’ 

“The grass did not have to wait 
long. Right up from the midst of 
my green leaves sprang a tall 
slender spike and hanging on all 
sides of the spike were the loveli¬ 
est flowers that any eye had ever 


seen. 



172 


RAINBOW BOY 


“ ‘I am surprised,’ said the grass, 
‘you are indeed beautiful now. 
Your green leaves and gay flowers 
make the loveliest bouquet I ever 
saw. I would like to stay and look 
at you but I must go spread my 
table for there’s my company 
coming now.’ 

“I looked and saw a flock of 
sheep coming into the swamp. The 
grass had the dinner ready and 
made its company welcome. Very 
soon the sheep were grazing the 
tender, juicy blades; the lambs 
were playing around, the grass 
was laughing, and they were 
all having the happiest kind of 
a time together. It made me feel 



WATER HYACINTH 


173 


lonesome and I thought I would 
like to have company for dinner 
too. I called to the sheep and said: 

‘“Wont you come over and 
feed on me.’ 

“The sheep sniffed and shook 
their heads. 

“ ‘You are too beautiful,’ they 
said. ‘Beautiful things are never 
good to eat.’ 

“This made me more lonesome 
than ever so I called to the birds: 

“ ‘Won’t you come over and 
build your nest in me?’ 

“But the birds said: 

“ ‘You are too beautiful. Many 
people will come to look at you 
and you will not be a safe place 
for a nest.’ 




174 


RAINBOW BOY 


“And so it was. Everybody that 
I tried to make friends with said I 
was too beautiful. And at last I 
saw how it was. O, Rainbow Boy, 
haven’t you ever noticed that the 
loveliest things in the world are 
always lonesome? Think how 
beautiful the moon is, but it is all 
by itself up there in the sky. And 
the sunset too. With all its loveli¬ 
ness it never has any company for 
dinner. I know now why Spirit-of- 
Change wanted me to think a bit 
before I chose to be beautiful and 
nothing else but beautiful. He 
knew I would never have any 
company. 

“Oh, Rainbow Boy, if I could 



WATER HYACINTH 


175 


only have somebody to play with 
I would be willing and glad to be 
as homely as that little freckled¬ 
faced girl that is picking buttercups 
with her friends over there on the 
edge of the swamp.” 

‘‘Oh, Water - Hyacinth,” Rain¬ 
bow Boy said, “that homely little 
freckled-faced girl has plenty of 
friends, because she is nice and 
polite and doesn’t want to play her 
way all the time. If you were will¬ 
ing to let men cut down your 
beautiful leaves and blossoms and 
cure them in the sun until they 
were withered and gray you 
would make a fine sweet food for 
cattle, and you would always have 



176 


RAINBOW BOY 


plenty of company for dinner.” 

“Is that so?” said Water-Hya¬ 
cinth. “Oh, Rainbow Boy, dear 
Rainbow Boy, please ask the men 
to come quick and cure my leaves 
and blossoms for the cows to eat. 
Ah, it makes me happy, so happy 
to know I shall have company for 
dinner. I just cannot tell you how 
happy I am!” 





HURRYING WIND 


“Wait a moment. Hurrying 
Wind: I want to hear your story,” 
called Rainbow Boy, but Hurrying 
Wind only called over his 
shoulder, as he hurried on: 

“I’m busy. I cannot stop to talk!” 

“Then I will go with you, and 
we can talk as we work.” And 
away they both went, dusting 
down the highway in frolic and 
glee. 

“Where do you come from?” 
asked Rainbow Boy. 

“I come from between the 


177 


178 


RAINBOW BOY 


moon and the sea,” said Hurrying 
Wind. 

‘‘And where are you going?” 

“Wherever I’m sent.” 

“And what are you doing?” 

“Whatever I find to do.” 

“Tell me about some of the 
work you have done,” asked 
Rainbow Boy. 

“Oh,” laughed Hurrying Wind, 
“It is the same thing over and 
over. Watch and you will see 
what”— 

But a pod beyond the fence 
called loudly: 

“Oh, Hurrying Wind, help me 
off with my load.” 

Rainbow Boy looked and saw 





























HURRYING WIND 


181 


that the pod was loaded with seed 
until it was about to break 

“Poor pod!” he said. 

Hurrying Wind laughed, leaped 
over the fence, caught up the seeds 
and scattered them over the field. 
Before the pod could thank him he 
had gone hurrying on, because a 
brook at the bottom of the hill was 
calling: 

“There is a stone in my stream 
that I can’t get over.’’ 

Hurrying Wind ran up behind 
the whimpering water, gave it a 
push, and away the ripples went, 
rolling the stone as it rushed down 
to the sea. The brook too, would 
have thanked him; but with a 



182 


RAINBOW BOY 


happy “Ha, ha!” Hurrying Wind 
had swung himself through a win¬ 
dow into a room where a sick girl 
lay. He swept away the air that 
had grown warm and stale, 
pushed the odor of medicine 
through an open door, and blew a 
cool breath over the girl’s hot 
face. 

“How nice you are!” whispered 
the sick girl. 

Hurrying Wind did not hear 
her. He was already out of the 
room and racing across a pasture 
to where a herd of catde fought 
helplessly against a swarm of flies. 
They stamped and switched their 
tails and tossed their heads from 



HURRYING WIND 


183 

-- 


* -- 



‘7/e swept away the air that had grown warm and stale*' 


side to side in torment. Hurrying 
Wind just caught up the swarm of 
flies and whirled them around 
until they went spinning into space. 
The cows lifted up their heads to 






184 


RAINBOW BOY 


him in gratitude, but he could not 
stop for their thanks. 

He had caught sight of a boy 
who was trying to make a new 
kite fly. The kite would go up a 
little way and fall flat. It had done 
that dozens of times, and the boy 
was about to give up when Hurry¬ 
ing Wind got there. He picked up 
the kite and sent it sailing higher 
and higher until the boy could 
hardly see it—way up in the sky. 

“Hurrah for you, Mr. Wind,” the 
boy cheered. But Hurrying Wind 
could not wait to be thanked, for 
some little children in an orchard 
were calling him to come shake 
the plum trees. 




‘Hurrah for you , Mr. Wind,!’ the boy cheered.” 


185 







HURRYING WIND 


187 


And such fun as it was!—Hurry¬ 
ing Wind shaking the trees until 
the red and yellow plums came 
down like rain, the children filling 
their pockets and aprons, every¬ 
body laughing. Rainbow Boy 
laughed, too. 

“Oh, Hurrying Wind,” he said, 
“what a happy life is yours!” 

“Oh, well,” said Hurrying Wind, 
“we are all of us happy when we 
are helping. But there are days 
when I do more harm than good, 
and then I am no happier than you 
are when you have a useless spell 
on you. And 111 tell you — 

But just then a pine tree bent 
done and whispered: 



188 


RAINBOW BOY 


“A sad heart is aching. Come 
harp among my needles until the 
poor, sorrowful soul is soothed.” 

And, as Rainbow Boy stood 
bare-headed in the grass, he heard 
the hand of Hurrying Wind, 
tender and kind, harping softly 
high up in the tree. 







‘Everybody got up early and went to market 


GOOD WISH 

Rainbow Boy had been told that 
in this southern city everybody got 
up early and went to market be¬ 
fore breakfast so he asked his 


189 


190 


RAINBOW BOY 


mother to call him early and let 
him go to market too. 

His mother called him at day¬ 
light and gave him a basket and 
some money. 

Rainbow Boy dressed as quickly 
as he could and went out into the 
street. 

Early as the hour was the street 
was already full of people hurry¬ 
ing along with empty baskets. Old 
men and young men, fat women 
and thin women, big children and 
little children, all going to market. 

Rainbow Boy felt a little scared 
when he found himself all alone 
in such a big crowd. He began 
looking around for somebody he 



GOOD WISH 


191 


knew and pretty soon he caught 
sight of a kind-looking fellow he 
had often seen in crowds. 

“That’s Good Wish,” he cried, 
“I know he will go with me to 
market.” 

Good Wish heard what Rain¬ 
bow Boy said and waited for him 
to catch up. 

“Are you going to French Mar¬ 
ket?” he asked. 

“Yes,” Rainbow Boy replied. 
“This is the first time I have ever 
started for there.” 

“It is a great place,” said Good 
Wish. “You can buy anything 
from a cup of coffee to a crab. I 
hope you will have a good time.” 



192 


RAINBOW BOY 


“Thank you,” Rainbow Boy 
said politely. “I am very glad you 
waited for me.” 

“It was nice of you to catch up 
with me,” said Good Wish. “It is 
jolly to talk as you walk along.” 

The mocking birds were singing 
in the palm gardens and all the 
world seemed so bright, clean and 
new that Rainbow Boy felt it was 
just the time to hear a story. He 
walked closer to Good Wish and 
asked: 

“Was your name always Good 
Wish?” 

“Why, no: it wasn’t. I once had 
such an ugly name that 1 do not 
like to think about it. 



GOOD WISH 193 

* -- ♦ 


“What was your ugly name,” 
asked Rainbow Boy. 

“It was Moping Mind, that’s 
what it was. And I must say that I 
was just as ugly as my name was. 
I never had a kind thought for any¬ 
body. I never had a happy hope. 
I sat around scowling, and put in 
all my time thinking about my ill 
fortune. When I came to the end 
of it I’d begin and think it all over 
again. If anybody tried to cheer 
me up, I’d get sullen and sulk. 1 
tell you, Rainbow Boy, you cannot 
find anything anywhere much 
uglier than a Moping Mind.” 

“How did you come to change 
your name?” asked Rainbow Boy. 




194 


RAINBOW BOY 


“The boy I belonged to made 
me change it. That’s the reason! 
It was a bright, new morning just 
like this. The boy took hold of me 
and gave me a shake and said. 

“ ‘I’m sick of you. Go and lose 
yourself! I won’t have a Moping 
Mind around me a minute longer.’ 

“I became scared then, of course, 
because I knew that if the boy 
drove me away I would have to go 
where the candle-light went when 
it went out and I did not want to 
go there. I began to cry and 
begged the boy to let me stay. 

“ ‘You can stay if you behave 
yourself,’ he said. ‘You will have 
to stop your silly sulking. You will 



GOOD WISH 


195 


have to stop thinking about your 
ill fortune.’ 

“ ‘How can I do that?’ I asked. ‘I 
must think about something and 
ill fortune is all I have.’ 

“ ‘Well, if you haven’t any good 
fortune of your own to think 
about, the boy said, ‘you can think 
about other people’s good fortune.’ 

“I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t 
want to think about good fortune 
at all. So I told the boy I didn’t see 
how I COULD think about other 
people’s good fortune. 

“ ‘I see how you can do it,’ the 
boy said, ‘and I know how you are 
going to do it. Everytime you meet 
anybody, I know you are going to 
take your hat off and say: 



196 


RAINBOW BOY 


“ ‘Good-day, I wish you well.’ ’ 

“Did you do it?” asked Rainbow 
Boy. 

“I had to. That boy was in 
earnest. He wasn’t going to put up 
with a Moping Mind a minute 
longer. But I must say, Rainbow 
Boy, it was strangely hard to do. 
My tongue was like a stick in my 
mouth. My lips stuck together. It 
just seemed as if I couldn’t smile. 
But that boy whipped me up to it. 

“ ‘Say it,’ he’d tell me when we 
met a person he knew. ‘Say Good- 
day, I wish you well. If you don’t 
say it, I’ll send you where the 
candle-light went to when it went 
out.’ 




GOOD WISH 


197 


“So I’d stretch my lips till they 
grinned and I would limber up my 
tongue and give somebody a good 
wish.” 

“But it became easier after a 
little while, didn’t it?” asked Rain¬ 
bow Boy. “I know it is that way 
with me. It may be real hard to 
do right the first time, but the next 
time I have to do it I find it much 
easier.” 

“Yes,” said Good Wish, “it was 
easier the next time and it kept on 
getting easier and easier till it be¬ 
came so I just loved to give good 
wishes and I was always on the 
look out for a chance to say: 

“ ‘Good-day, I wish you well.’ 



198 


RAINBOW BOY 


“After awhile I think even the 
boy forgot that I had ever been a 
Moping Mind. Everybody began 
to call me Good Wish and to be 
very friendly and kind. Well, here 
we are at the French Market! I 
must be getting busy because 
there is not a single heart in this 
big crowd that is not hungry for 
a good wish. They can buy al¬ 
most anything in the French Mar¬ 
ket except a good wish. Did you 
ever think about that, Rainbow 
Boy? There isn’t a market in the 
world where good wishes can be 
bought. A good wish must always 
be given, so—Good-day, Rainbow 
Boy, 1 wish you well.” 



GOOD WISH 199 

--- —„„—„„— HM — MH — MM — -— -+ 


“Good-day, you dear kind fel¬ 
low,” cried Rainbow Boy, “and I 
wish you well with all my heart. 
Indeed I do. I wish you very, very 
well. Good Wish.” 








CANDLE LIGHT 


When Rainbow Boy saw Candle 
Light in his room he went in 
quickly, for he had long wanted to 
hear her story. 

“Please,” he said pleasantly, 
“please. Candle Light, tell me 
where you came from to-night.” 

“I didn’t just come to-night,” 
Candle Light said gently; “I have 
been a long time coming.” 

“Tell me about it,” begged Rain¬ 
bow Boy. 

“All right, but I can tell you only 
what I remember. First I was 
grass, but there was earth, air, and 


200 


CANDLE LIGHT 


201 


water in me, so of course Spirit- 
of-Change did not let me stay grass 
very long. He brought a cow to 
bite me off. She bit me and 
chewed me and swallowed me, 
then chewed me and swallowed 
me again, so that pretty soon I 
turned to fat and lay snug and 
warm between the lean meat and 
the hide. I fitted the place so nicely 
that I thought I must be there to 
stay. But it seemed earth, air, and 
water were in me yet, so before 
long I had to change again. 

“A butcher came and killed 
the cow, took off her hide, and 
stripped me from my cozy place. 
They cut me into bits and put me 



202 


RAINBOW BOY 


in a pot over a fire. I steamed a 
good long while, but finally began 
to fry. Do you know what that 
meant? It meant that fire had 
driven all the water out of me. 
Air left soon afterwards, and they 
poured me into a mold and called 
me tallow. 

“I said to myself: 

"Am I settled for life this time?’ 

“A Match heard me and laugh¬ 
ingly said: 

“ ‘Don’t believe that you are 
located for life. Nothing stays fixed 
in this world. Why, small as I am, 
I can change almost as many 
things as the Great Spirit him¬ 
self.’ 




w They cut me into bits and put me in a pot over a fire.” 

203 
















































































































CANDLE LIGHT 


205 


“I asked how that could be be¬ 
cause this was the first Match I had 
seen, and it was little and red¬ 
headed and really didn’t look as if 
it could do much. But it kept on 
saying that it could. 

“ ‘Why, when I see something 
I want to change,’ said the Match, 
‘all I have to do is to snap and 
touch it and it changes.’ 

“There was a piece of white 
paper lying alongside the Match, 
so I asked: 

“ ‘Can you change that piece of 
paper?’ 

“ ‘Why, surely I can,’ the Match 
cried; ‘Just watch what I do.’ 

“The Match snapped and 




206 

*«— 


RAINBOW BOY 


touched the paper, and at once it 
became a blaze. I was so surprised 
that I sat staring until the blaze 
itself changed to ashes. Then I 
asked: 

“ ‘Can you change the ashes?’ 

“But the Match itself had 
changed and become a little 
charred stick. 

“ ‘No, no,’ it said. ‘A Match can 
snap and touch but once. I could 
have changed a great house to 
ashes as easily as I changed that 
piece of paper, but I have thrown 
away my power, to prove a vain 
boast, and now I shall die.’ 

“It did die, too, I know, because 
soon after a hand picked it up 



CANDLE LIGHT 


207 


and tossed it into a tray, and a 
voice said: 

“ ‘Don’t bother. That match is 
dead.’ 

“After I had met the Match I be¬ 
gan to get restless. So long as I 
had believed myself to be fixed for 
life as tallow, I was well enough 
satisfied; but after what the match 
had said, and after the way I had 
seen a plain piece of paper 
changed to a burning blaze, I be¬ 
gan to wish I could change too, 
and I made up my mind that the 
next time I met a Match, I would 
ask it to snap and touch me. 

“I did not know it then, but 
there were going to be a good 



208 


RAINBOW BOY 


many things done to me before I 
met another Match. I was packed 
in a box and hauled around and 
unpacked and wrapped into a 
bundle—Oh, ever so many things! 
But at last hands brought me into 
this room, and set me in a candle¬ 
stick. I looked around, and the 
first thing I saw was a Match. 
When I saw the Match I said 
immediately: 

“ ‘Oh, please, please snap and 
touch me.’ 

“The match was red-headed, 
and as ready to laugh as most jolly 
red-headed people are. It laughed 
and said: 



CANDLE LIGHT 


209 


“ ‘Why are you in such a hurry 
to have a match touched to you?’ 

“I said: 

“ ‘Please touch me. I want to 
see if I won’t become a blaze.’ 

“ ‘Become a blaze,’ he laughed. 
‘Why, what do you think you are? 
A piece of kindling wood?’ 

“ ‘No,’ I said. ‘I know I am only 
a piece of tallow.’ 

“ ‘A piece of tallow!’ the Match 
laughed, but so nicely. ‘Why, you 
are a candle, and if I touch you, 
you will become one of the dear¬ 
est, softest little daughters great 
Light has on earth.’ That is what 
the Match said, Rainbow Boy.” 

“I know,” said Rainbow Boy. 



210 


RAINBOW BOY 


“And it all came true. The Match 
snapped and touched you, and you 
became Candle Light—one of the 
softest, dearest, little lights that 
ever shone. I wish you would 
shine on forever.” 

Candle Light smiled happily. 

“But of course I can’t do that,” 
she said, “because all Candle 
Lights must go out.” 

“Where do they go when they 
go out?” asked Rainbow Boy. 

“That is what nobody knows,” 
said Candle Light, gendy. “You 
see thousands and thousands of 
Candle Lights have gone out, but 
not one has ever come back to tell 
where it went to.” 




+« - 


CANDLE LIGHT 


211 

—+ 



“Thousands and thousands of candle lights have gone out*' 


Just as she said this, Candle 
Light flickered and went out 
softly, and Rainbow Boy was left 
alone in the dark. 












WAYSIDE WEED 


Wayside Weed nodded gayly to 
Rainbow Boy, and he gladly 
stopped to say a pleasant word 
for he enjoyed talking to cheerful 
people. 

“You appear to be having a 
jolly time here,’’ he said, “even if 
you are a bit dusty.” 

Wayside Weed laughed merrily: 

“Oh, I daresay I am dusty 
enough, but, then, I like to watch 
the people go by, and you can’t 
have passing crowds without some 
dust. If }'Ou had lived all your life 
on the side of a road as I have. 


212 


WAYSIDE WEED 


213 


you would know that things al¬ 
ways come mixed, the pleasant 
with the unpleasant.” 

‘‘One doesn’t have to live on the 
side of a road to learn that,” Rain¬ 
bow Boy answered. “I have lived 
in a number of places, and I have 
always found it the same way. 
Pleasure and pain come along to¬ 
gether; and if you take more than 
your share of pleasure, you will 
have to take more pain than you 
care to have.” 

“Well,” said Wayside Weed, 
cheerfully, “of course I don’t know 
very much about it, but I noticed 
a good while ago that to get some¬ 
thing you want you have to take 



214 


RAINBOW BOY 


along with it something you don’t 
want. So I take the dust as it 
comes, and merrily remember that 
by and by the dew and the rain 
will come and wash me clean. 
Then I feel that it is very nice to 
be here.” 

“Yes,” said Rainbow Boy; but 
he thought to himself that it did 
look very nice there where Way- 
side Weed was growing. The 
ground was bare and so sun-baked 
that it was a wonder she could 
grow at all; the dust from the road 
had powdered her leaves to a 
grayish green. 

“How can she breathe?” won¬ 
dered Rainbow Boy. 



WAYSIDE WEED 


215 


+*--- - - - ---------M-»•-...-----------„-„-----„|, 

For neighbors she had only some 
grass burrs. 

“How do you get on with the 
burrs?” he asked. “Are they 
friendly?” 

“Oh, they are very pleasant 
people if you let them alone. I’ve 
been told that they stick those 
who go prying into their plot, but 
I do not know that it is true. I 
never leave my own plot. When¬ 
ever I nod across to them, they 
always nod back to me. I find 
them very nice neighbors.” 

“People who stay at home gen¬ 
erally do get on well with their 
neighbors,” said Rainbow Boy. 
“I have heard that said often. See 



216 


RAINBOW BOY 


here. Wayside Weed, I like your 
cheerful way of looking at things. 
I wish you would tell me your 
story.” 

Wayside Weed nodded and 
laughed: 

“Why, I haven’t any story worth 
telling. Wind was playing over 
there in the meadow one day when 
I was a little seed. He snatched 
me out of my mother’s lap and ran 
away with me. He lifted me high 
and carried me lightly for a while, 
but, by the time he got here, he 
was tired and let me fall. 1 was 
glad he dropped me when he did. 
If he had carried me a little far¬ 
ther, I should have fallen into the 



WAYSIDE WEED 217 

*---- 



wheel track and been ground to 
powder. I could never have come 
up. 

“And, when you did come up 
and look around you, did you like 
the place?” 

“Well, no, not all at once, I 
didn’t. Of course, I had wanted to 
grow in a garden where I would 
be petted and made to bloom 
prettily. I thought if I had only 





218 


RAINBOW BOY 


been planted in a garden, I would 
have been as beautiful as the roses 
you see blooming over there. 

“I drooped to think I was only a 
Wayside Weed, and I believe I 
should have pined myself into a 
sickly thing if that glad fellow, 
Light, had not come singing along 
and advised me to make the best 
of it. He said: 

** My day’s work carries me all 
over the world, and I have to shine 
on some very sad and some very 
sorrowful things. If I had not 
learned to make the best of it, I 
would have become gray as gloom 
long ago.’ 

“Well, I thought, if even a glad 




“My day’s work carries 


me all over the world.” 


219 






































- 








































































































































































































WAYSIDE WEED 


221 


fellow like Light, has to make the 
best of things, surely I can do it, 
too. And you know how it is! 

When you begin to make the best 
of things, you are surprised to find 
how much best there is to be 
made. I shook the dust from my 
leaves and lifted my head to the 
dew. When Light came back in 
the morning, I gave him all my 
drops to flash through. My tiny 
little flowers were not to be 
thought of with the bright, beauti¬ 
ful roses, but they were pale and 
pretty, and, when Light kissed 
them, they looked so happy that a 
man and a woman who were rid¬ 
ing by stopped and smiled. 




222 


RAINBOW BOY 


“ ‘Only a Wayside Weed,’ said 
the lady, ‘but how very pretty! I 
should think it would take courage 
to keep one’s self clean and sweet 
in a place like this.’ 

“The man leaned down from his 
saddle to answer her. 

“ ‘It takes courage to keep one’s 
self clean and sweet in any place, 
dear,’ he said. And then they rode 
on. 

“I told Light about it. I told him 
I would like to keep myself clean 
and sweet all the time; but how 
could I when the dust was so 
thick in the middle of the day? I 
thought my case a rather hard one, 
but Light only laughed. 



WAYSIDE WEED 223 

+-- ----- ——+ 


“ ‘You can always keep your¬ 
self clean and sweet if you make 
the best of things,’ he said.” 

Wayside Weed looked up 
merrily. 

“I have been trying ever since 
to do as Light said, but I don’t look 
very clean and sweet just now, 
do I?” 

“You look all right,” Rainbow 
Boy told her, happily. “Your soul 
is clean and sweet even if your 
leaves are a bit dusty. Oh, I wish 
there were more cheerful people 
in the world like you. Wayside 
Weed!” 




DARK PLACE 


Nearly everybody stops when 
he comes to Dark Place, and Rain¬ 
bow Boy stopped, too. As he did 
so, he thought he heard a sigh. 
He listened a minute and was sure 
he heard the sigh again. So he 
asked: 

“What is the matter, Dark Place? 
Are you unhappy?” 

“Unhappy,” said Dark Place. 
“Oh, I am dismal.” 

Rainbow Boy was always ten¬ 
der to anyone who was unhappy, 
so he came close and spoke softly: 

“Why are you so unhappy?” he 
asked. 


224 


DARK PLACE 


225 


Nobody likes me. That glad 
person, Light, will not have a 
thing to do with me. And little 
children fear me as though I were 
as wicked as a lie.’’ She began to 
sob, and Rainbow Boy felt sorrow¬ 
ful, for he knew that what she said 
was true. All gladness and bright¬ 
ness kept away from Dark Place 
as though she were a bad thing 
and yet she did no harm to any¬ 
one. It was not her fault that she 
was dark. 

“Don’t cry,” he said, “it does’nt 
seem fair that you should be 
treated so. Of course it must be 
fair—everything is fair if we could 
only understand how things come 



226 


RAINBOW BOY 


to be. Let’s go over it all together. 
It is true that Light never comes 
near you, but then you have 
Shadow always with you. Some 
people—a great many people— 
think Shadow a more gentle friend 
than Light.’’ 

“People with sick eyes like him, 
Dark Place said unhappily, “but 
the well and the strong, love 

Light.” 

Rainbow Boy shook his head. 

“Dark Place,” he said kindly, 
“don’t you know we would all be 
happier if we loved the friend we 
have while we have him? As it 
is, we go around criticising, and 
finding fault with him for this and 



DARK PLACE 


227 


finding fault with him for that, 
and it is not until our friend dies 
or goes away that we find out how 
dear he is and wish we had loved 
him more while he was with us— 
but then it is all too late.” 

Dark Place could not be com¬ 
forted: 

‘‘If Shadow is so fine a friend,” 
she sobbed, “why do little chil¬ 
dren fear him so?” 

“Children don’t fear Shadow,” 
Rainbow Boy said, “they like to 
play with him.” 

“They play with him when he 
is with Light, but they are afraid 
of him when he is with me. If 
their mother sends a child to 



228 


RAINBOW BOY 



“They like to play with him** 


Shadow when he is with me the 
child begins to beg somebody to go 
with it, or it begins to cry.” And 
Dark Place began to sob again. 
‘‘Oh, I know it isn’t Shadow they 
fear. It is I whom the little chil¬ 
dren fear. Why should little chil¬ 
dren be afraid of me?” 

‘‘Don’t cry,” Rainbow Boy said 
kindly. “Don’t cry. Children are 



DARK PLACE 229 

+ ----- + 


afraid of you because they don’t 
know you. Some children are 
afraid of all strangers. But think 
how many living things there are 
who are not afraid of you. A lit¬ 
tle mouse told me once that when¬ 
ever he got hold of a piece of 
cheese or a bit of bread he always 
ran to eat it with you. He said he 
would rather have you at his tea 
party than anybody else in the 
world. He loved you so.” 

“Oh, yes,” Dark Place sighed, 
“the mice love me.” 

“And toads, too. It was only 
yesterday that a little toad was 
telling me how you saved his life. 
He was hopping along when some 




230 


RAINBOW BOY 


boys saw him and began to call: 
‘Catch him! Catch him!’ and to 
strike at him with sticks. At first 
he was so scared he did not know 
what to do. Then he remembered 
that you were his friend and began 
hopping toward you as fast as he 
could. The boys chased him hard, 
broke one of his legs, battered his 
body and bruised his head. 

You see, he was only one little 
toad against them all, and he had 
just about given himself up to be 
killed when he caught sight of you 
waiting to save him. He made a 
long jump and you caught him 
and hid him among your shades. 
He says you mended his leg and 





“And the bats, too 

231 































■ 















1 


' ■ ■ ■ 


■ 










































DARK PLACE 


233 


healed his bruises and kept him 
safely until he was well and 
strong. Poor little fellow, he told 
me you were the only friend he 
had in the world.” 

“Oh, yes,” said Dark Place, “the 
toads love me.” 

“And the bats, too,” Rainbow 
Boy said quickly, for Dark Place 
spoke so sorrowfully. “A big, 
strong bat once told me that he 
would never be able to live 
through the day if it were not for 
your kindness in giving him dark¬ 
ness.” 

But for all Rainbow Boy might 
say, Dark Place only sighed 
happily. 


un 



234 


RAINBOW BOY 


“I know,” she said, “bats and 
mice and toads love me and come 
to me to be comforted, but little 
children are afraid of me and it al¬ 
most breaks my heart to think 
about it. You know, Rainbow 
Boy, how I love little children, how 
I long to soothe them to sleep when 
they are tired. I wouldn’t hurt one 
of them for the world. But they 
are afraid of me.” 

Dark Place began to sob again 
when she had said that, and 
Rainbow Boy could only stand by 
feeling very sorry for her. He 
could not think of anything to say. 

It was true. Many children were 
afraid of Dark Place. He won- 



love little children” 


235 

























DARK PLACE 


237 

—+ 


dered why this should be so. For 
surely she who sheltered all the 
little timid creatures of the earth 
would never hurt a little child. 









BEAUTIFUL BUBBLES 


Rainbow Boy tipped his head 
back to look at the bubble a little 
chap had just blown from his pipe. 

“Oh, beautiful bubble,” he cried, 
“what are you thinking of, sailing 
along so softly up there in the air?” 

“I am thinking of what I am go¬ 
ing to do next.” 

“And what is it you are going 
to do?” 

“I am going to burst.” 

“Burst! Must you do that? You 
are so beautiful just as you are. 

“Oh yes, I must burst. You see 
I am made up of earth, air and 


238 


BEAUTIFUL BUBBLES 


239 


water, so I know Spirit-of-Change 
will come to me pretty soon. For 
we know, Rainbow Boy, Spirit- 
of-Change comes to everything 
that is made up of earth, air and 
water.’’ 

“But there isn’t any earth in you, 
surely you are only air and water.’’ 

“And soap. Do you think I 
could float so steadily if I had no 
soap? And the strong part of soap 
comes from the earth. 

“Oh, yes. I had forgotten about 
the mineral part of soap. But there 
is very little of that. 

“There is enough of it to bring 
Spirit-of-Change my way. And, 
here he comes now.” 





240 


RAINBOW BOY 


Even as she spoke. Rainbow 
Boy saw Spirit-of-Change come 
stealing softly upon Beautiful 
Bubble. He spun her wall round 
swiftly, softened her bright colors 
to a misty gray and she burst. 

“Why did you do it?” Rainbow 
Boy cried. “Why did you make 
her burst when she was so 
beautiful?” 

Spirit - of - Change demanded 
sternly: 

“Don’t you know that all Bubbles 
must burst? To be blown, to 
float and to burst; this is the law 
of the life of Bubbles.” 

“But why? They are beautiful 




BEAUTIFUL BUBBLES 


241 


and they do no harm in the world. 
Why must they burst?” 

‘‘Bubbles burst because they do 
no good in the world,” Spirit-of- 
Change replied. ‘‘They sow no 
seed to feed Life or to clothe her. 
So Life sends me about to burst 
them. Then their water is freed 
to form in dew upon living things; 
their air is sent to help the wind; 
their earth goes back to the ground 
to help make things grow. When 
you have lived longer, Rainbow 
Boy, and gone about more you 
will not need to be told that sooner 
or later all idleness must make an 
end. Either it destroys itself or Life 
sends me to destroy it.” 



242 


RAINBOW BOY 


“But if Life means to destroy it 
why does she let idleness be? 
Why does she let Beautiful 
Bubbles be blown if she means to 
send you to burst them?” 

“Why how curious you are! 
Can’t you see that Life lets Beau¬ 
tiful Bubbles be blown because 
the blowing was good work for 
the little chap? It taught him to 
blow gently and to keep his lips 
steady. Also it taught him to be 
careful and patient about what 
he did. 

“But after she was blown there 
was nothing more for the little 
chap to learn from her. Indeed, 
as long as she was floating around 




243 











































































































244 


RAINBOW BOY 


in the air the little chap did noth¬ 
ing but stand staring after her. 
That is idleness, you see. I burst 
Beautiful Bubbles and the little 
chap blows another. Life is well 
satisfied, but you begin to abuse 
me for obeying the law.” 

“I did not understand,” said 
Rainbow Boy, “but I see now. 
You change things that they may 
become more useful.” 

“That is it exactly,” said Spirit- 
of-Change, “and after you have 
watched me work for a while you 
will see that I let the useful things 
alone for long years at a time. 
And that I put an end to the use¬ 
less ones in a hurry.” 




BEAUTIFUL BUBBLES 


245 


But Rainbow Boy was thinking 
of something else. 

“Tell me,” he said, “do you 
think Beautiful Bubble was hap¬ 
pier after she burst than she was 
before?” 

“Of course,” answered Spirit-of- 
Change, “all Bubbles are happier 
after they burst. Aren’t you al¬ 
ways happier when you stop do¬ 
ing nothing and start to work? 





SUNNY SMILE 

Rainbow Boy was sitting on a 
stone and feeling as sick and sorry 
as if he had been to a party the 
night before and eaten a big piece 
of cake that was too rich for him. 

“I know I ought to be happy,” 
he said to himself. ‘‘God made us 
all to be happy and we ought to 
try to be that way—but it is rather 
hard to be happy sometimes.” 

Just then a little girl came danc¬ 
ing along, and as soon as he 
caught sight of her, Rainbow Boy 
began to feel a great deal better. 
He called to her and begged her 


246 



“A little girl came dancing along'* 




247 












248 


RAINBOW BOY 


to wait a minute. 

“Please,” he said, “Oh, please 
don’t go by so fast; it makes me 
feel so good to see you. Can’t you 
stay with me for a little while?” 

The little girl came and sat down 
on the stone. 

“Are you feeling very bad?” 
she asked. 

“I was feeling bad before you 
came along, but I don’t feel so bad 
now. In fact,” said Rainbow Boy, 
“I stopped feeling bad and began 
to feel happy just as soon as I 
saw you. Won’t you tell me what 
your name is?” 

The little girl put her hands to¬ 
gether and looked away, laughing 














■ 


ipsp 
_ I 




“Won’t you tell me what your name is?” 

249 











































































SUNNY SMILE 


251 


softly to herself. 

“I have a strange kind of name,” 
she said. 

‘‘What is it?” asked Rainbow 
Boy. 

‘‘Well — they call me Sunny 
Smile.” 

“Oh,” said Rainbow Boy, “no 
wonder I felt so much better the 
minute I saw you. I have always 
heard that it made everybody feel 
better just to see Sunny Smile. 
Tell me, little sweetheart, do you 
like being a Sunny Smile?” 

“Yes,” the little girl said. “Yes, 
I like it because everybody I meet 
is so nice to me.” 



252 


RAINBOW BOY 


“That is because you are so nice 
to everybody you meet,” Rain¬ 
bow Boy told her. “When you 
come to people, looking so bright 
and sweet, they just can’t help lov¬ 
ing you. Won’t you tell me your 
story?’’ 

“I haven’t any story to tell,” 
Sunny Smile said. “I’ve never 
done anything but just go around 
smiling.” 

“But that is a fine thing to do, 
sweetheart. People who just go 
around smiling make everybody 
feel a whole lot better and a whole 
lot happier. Tell me—did Spirit- 
of-Change ever kiss you?” 

“He hasn’t kissed me yet. He 
says he is going to kiss me some 




“Make everybody feel a whole lot better," 


253 



























































254 


RAINBOW BOY 


day and give me a new name. 
But, oh, Rainbow Boy, I am afraid. 
I don’t want that new name. It is 
too big.” 

“What did he say your new 
name would be, little one?” 

“He said it would be either In¬ 
spiration or Benediction — but 
that’s too big for me.” 

Rainbow Boy caught Sunny 
Smile’s hands and held them tight. 

“Oh, no, it is not too big for 
you, sweetheart. You are an in¬ 
spiration and a benediction al¬ 
ready. You are a blessing and a 
joy and a healer of hurts. You are 
the dearest little fairy that ever 
rested on anybody’s lips. Oh, if 



SUNNY SMILE 


255 


all the little girls I know were to 
turn into Sunny Smiles, how we 
should enjoy them and what a 
happy, happy place this world 
would be!” 

















































































